


The Observer

by AriadneKnowsTheWay



Category: Naruto
Genre: Akatsuki as a family, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst with a Happy Ending, But you know how they always talk about that light at the end of the tunnel, By the end of this fanfiction you'll love Mangetsu as much as I do, Chronic Illness, Deidara is a Yamanaka and he's problematic, Everyone Needs A Hug, F/F, F/M, Families of Choice, Found Family, Gender Identity, Horny Teenagers, Itachi is happy for once, Kakuzu denies his feelings as long as possible, Kisame is head over heels for Itachi, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Pain and Konan are soulmates, Problematic Hidan, Recreational Drug Use, Recreational Violence, Sasuke is confused, Sasuke is done with his own shithead, So does Sasori, This is probably getting extremely dark by the end, Zetsu as an actual character, fight me
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-03
Updated: 2021-02-02
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:28:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 6
Words: 24,705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27863817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AriadneKnowsTheWay/pseuds/AriadneKnowsTheWay
Summary: Konan must start, spend and finish her last year of high school at Yuusei Institute. Possibly without getting involved in fights, without creating drama, without running away from home, without getting reported for things she may or may not have done, and above all without getting attached to more or less questionable characters who only bring trouble.But who really wants a quiet year, after all?
Relationships: Deidara/Sasori (Naruto), Haruno Sakura/Uchiha Sasuke, Hidan/Kakuzu (Naruto), Hoozuki Mangetsu/Samui, Hoozuki Suigetsu/Karin, Hoshigaki Kisame/Uchiha Itachi, Hyuuga Neji/Tenten, Kidoumaru/Kimimaro (Naruto), Konan/Pain (Naruto), Nara Shikamaru/Temari, Sai/Yamanaka Ino, Sakon/Kin
Comments: 8
Kudos: 18





	1. Chapter 1

It had been raining for days now. Weeks, perhaps. Konan didn’t know if she had spent more time studying or watching the raindrops slide down the windows of her room. Probably the second option. Even now the girl was still throwing glances out the window, despite the book that had been open on the table for more than two hours. She was bored and couldn’t do anything about it.  
  
“It’s pointless” she murmured, closing the book with a sigh. She got up and left the room, stopping for a few seconds in the corridor to determine if the house was actually empty. It wasn’t uncommon for her uncles to go out without warning her, and it seemed that even this time they hadn’t bothered to tell her.  
  
Konan came down the stairs and went into the living room, where her uncle used to spend Sunday afternoons, amidst large tomes of medieval history and the constant background mumbling of television.  
  
Not finding him there, she went into the kitchen, and checked if there was any post-it stuck somewhere that would indicate where her uncles had gone this time, but (as usual) she saw nothing. She huffed and opened the fridge, in contemplation. There wasn’t much to munch on as a snack, and she wasn’t so hungry as to eat sweet and sour cucumbers from the jar at half past four in the afternoon.  
  
She was still in front of the fridge when she heard the phone ringing. She puffed louder than before and ran upstairs. “Who the hell is on a Sunday”, she grumbled loudly. She barged into the room and answered without looking at the display.  
  
“Hello”.  
  
“How fucking long does it take you to answer!” Mangetsu yelled. Konan rolled her eyes and let herself fall on the mattress.  
  
“Well, I answered, didn’t I?”  
  
“Big fucking surprise!”  
  
“Very nice” laughed Konan. She couldn’t see him, but she could imagine an outraged Mangetsu standing in all his six foot seventy-eight, ready to hang up. She preceded him: “You called me for...?”  
  
“To hang up on you, of course” said Mangetsu. The girl smiled, she knew him well. “I wanted to know if you would like to go for a ride somewhere, I’m bored to death and Suigetsu is particularly annoying today”.  
  
“Where do you want to go with this rain?” mumbled Konan, turning to look out of the window. The weather hadn’t improved.  
  
“I don’t know, it was just to go out for a while”.  
  
“Hmm. In theory I should finish studying...”  
  
“Bring your books and finish at my place, and then we’ll go”.  
  
Konan’s smile widened. “I appreciate it, but no, I only bring myself”, she stood up. “Fifteen minutes and I’m there”.  
  
Mangetsu groaned. “Let’s make it ten?”  
  
“If only I could fly”, Konan laughed. “See you later”.

*

“It took you forever”, grumbled Mangetsu as he opened the door. “Next time I’ll come to your place”.  
  
“Yes, yes” said Konan, staying outside. “I thought we were going straight away...”. There was no one on the floor but her, and no noise came from the neighbouring apartments, but Konan looked around anyway. It wasn’t the first time she had gone to the Hozuki, but every time the silence was a surprise to her.  
  
She moved out of the door when Mangetsu exited. He didn’t seem to be worried about the calm that reigned in the apartment building.  
  
“It’s always so quiet here” commented Konan while they went down the stairs. The boy snorted.  
  
“It is when Stupid-getsu doesn’t invite his cracked-up friends”.  
  
Konan smiled. “You’re a little intolerant today, aren’t you?”  
  
They went outside through the front door. The storm seemed about to calm down, but the water kept falling. Mangetsu looked at the sky, doubtful. “Do you think it’ll stop soon?”  
  
“Probably yes, but I’m not going to walk around in the rain” warned Konan, pulling a parasol out of her bag. Mangetsu rolled his eyes and took it out of her hand quite abruptly.  
  
“Then we won’t _walk around in the rain_ ” he groaned, opening the umbrella. Konan smiled. “We could go to 109” he proposed, walking with his friend by his side. She was very careful to stay under the umbrella.  
  
“Uh?”  
  
“The mall!”  
  
“I don’t know if I’ve ever been there” said Konan, thoughtful.  
  
“Really?”  
  
“I remind you that I moved here recently”.  
  
“Four months isn’t a short time” Mangetsu pointed out, but he didn’t continue the conversation when Konan didn’t answer.  
  
  
  
  
They walked in silence for a while, the noise of the surrounding traffic as background. Then Mangetsu stopped suddenly, pointing something at Konan. “That’s our goal!” he said theatrically, wringing an amused smile from the girl. The tower of the mall stood out clearly against the sky, the number 109 clearly visible even at that distance.  
  
“Is it as big as it seems?”  
  
“Even bigger, it’s eight floors in all” replied Mangetsu.  
  
“Eight floors?”  
  
“That’s what I said” snorted the boy, avoiding a puddle.  
  
“Grump-getsu” muttered Konan, careful not to be heard, but still getting a nasty look from his friend.  
  
Arriving at the entrance of the mall, Mangetsu started tinkering to close the umbrella. Konan instead entered directly, approaching the map with the directions to reach the various floors put on display. Reading, a question came spontaneously to her.  
  
“‘getsu” she called, without turning around. When she didn’t receive an answer, she called again. “‘getsu!”  
  
“Mpf?”, the boy approached her, “your umbrella sucks, I wanted to tell you”.  
  
“There are no men’s clothing stores here” said Konan. She looked at his friend. “Why did we come here? You’re going to get bored” she commented.  
  
He blushed. “That’s it...”  
  
“...”  
  
“To be honest, I didn’t propose the 109 randomly...”  
  
“...?”  
  
“... I must... I have to buy a gift for someone”, muttered Mangetsu. He seemed to take courage. “A classmate, Samui. If we’re in class together you’ll see her”, he said.  
  
Konan shook her head. “You could have told me that you needed advice”.  
  
“I don’t need advice!”  
  
The girl raised her eyebrows.  
  
“That’s to say... I need to know whether what I have in mind is all right or not!”  
  
“All right, all right...” Konan imposed herself not to laugh, so as not to further embarrass Mangetsu, who already seemed to be on the edge of endurance. “What did you have in mind?”

*

“Are you serious?”  
  
“Well...”  
  
“Mangetsu!”  
  
“You should be supportive! Don’t bring me down!” protested the boy, earning a perplexed look from the girl in the cash register.  
  
“I’ll _fucking_ bring you down!” hissed Konan, lowering her voice. “Seriously, we climbed three stories of stairs so that you could look for socks?”  
  
“Escalators!” said Mangetsu, “and what’s wrong with these socks?!”  
  
Konan passed her hand over her face. She didn’t really know where to start explaining Mangetsu what was wrong.  
  
“Can I help you guys?” kindly asked a clerk, approaching them.  
  
“No, no! Thank you” Mangetsu blurted out, sharply. The clerk walked away, Konan watched her leave. Then she looked at his friend.  
  
“Listen, do you like this Samui?”  
  
“Eh...”  
  
“Don’t be vague”.  
  
The boy was examining a pair of gray socks with blue printed trains. “Eh...” he repeated. “I would say yes. A little bit”.  
  
“A little bit”, Konan mocked him. She took the socks he was looking at and put them back in their place. “Listen, why don’t you get her something like a bracelet, a necklace...?” she was about to add “It would be better”, but she controlled herself.  
  
The boy sighed. “I don’t know, she didn’t strike me as the type who appreciates that kind of thing”.  
  
“What does she appreciate, then?”  
  
“I don’t fucking know” huffed Mangetsu. “She helped me a lot this summer with school, and I wanted to reciprocate somehow... I thought that getting her a gift made sense, but now that you look at me with that face, maybe I had a shitty idea”, he finished the sentence in a low voice.  
  
“It’s not a shit idea, but I think instead of getting her a gift you can just take her to do something she likes”, Konan said. He thought about it. “Maybe you can take her beetle hunting”, she continued with a laugh, while Mangetsu rolled his eyes.  
  
“It’s my brother who likes beetles”, the boy blurted out. He seemed to have calmed down a bit. “Mmmh, I could take your advice...”  
  
“Well done”, she said.  
  
“So... don’t you want these beautiful socks for like, your birthday?” joked Mangetsu.  
  
“You already know what to get me as a Christmas present”, commented the girl, laughing openly. “I would be hungry”, she added.  
  
“I think there’s a bar on the seventh floor”, Mangetsu considered.  
  
“Seventh?”  
  
“It was you who said you were hungry...”  
  
“I don’t know if I’m that hungry”.

*

In fact, she was that hungry.  
  
“This place is 30% stores, 70% stairs”, Mangetsu exhaled once they sat at a coffee table in the bar. It was a neutral but all in all nice place, Konan thought; there was a long white counter, an imposing fake floor plant near the door and a series of slices of cake on display behind a large glass cabinet, one more appetizing than the other. The coffee tables were many, but only two were occupied: one by Mangetsu and Konan, the other by a couple of girls engaged in a lively conversation.  
  
The maid took their order and left quickly.  
  
“Do you know who they are?” Mangetsu hinted with his head at the other occupied table. Konan shook her head.  
  
“No”, she said.  
  
“The one with pink hair is Haruno Sakura. The blonde is Yamanaka Ino”.  
  
“Okay...?”  
  
“They’re terrible. You’ll see them tomorrow” said Mangetsu with a mysterious act.  
  
“And why should I see them tomorrow?”  
  
“They’re from our school. Club presidents”.  
  
“Clubs?”  
  
“Well, yes. Don’t you know anything about it?”  
  
Konan didn’t want to say yes, I have no idea, so she opted for a blank stare.  
  
“Aaaah” sighed Mangetsu, “okay. Well, Yuusei isn’t a private school, of course... but it’s not completely public either. It’s a fifty-fifty solution, made especially for those who don’t want to study twelve hours a day and those who still want to have a high school diploma worth something. It’s a good solution also for those who don’t want to ditch their studies while doing sport at competitive level”. He hinted again at the two girls sitting not far from them. “For example, I know the Yamanaka does ballet, and she’s also the president of the school dance club. Haruno is one of the students’ representatives of the school”.  
  
“They don’t seem all that bad” commented Konan.  
  
The waitress came back with their order: a slice of raspberry cake and a Fanta for Konan, a hazelnut muffin and natural water for Mangetsu.  
  
“It’s just appearance”.

  
  
“Oof Drag-getsu, you had to come right here?”  
  
Mangetsu and Konan turned around.  
  
“Stupid-getsu! You’re a persecution!”  
  
“Ah-ah-ah” mumbled Suigetsu. He was with two of his friends, a tall guy with orange hair, apparently quiet, and a girl with spiky red hair, with a pair of rectangular glasses and an unruly air. “Guys, we’re moving”.  
  
“I wanted to eat a slice of cake” opposed the orange-haired guy, approaching the bar counter.  
  
“I’m sure there’s some other place with cake nearby” commented Suigetsu’s friend sarcastically, reluctantly going after him.  
  
Suigetsu instead approached his brother.  
  
“Were you leaving?” he asked hopefully.  
  
“Actually no” replied Mangetsu, shoving a piece of muffin in his mouth. “By the way, she’s Konan” he said.  
  
“Nice to meet you” Suigetsu murmured. Konan smiled at him, polite.  
  
“Well, nii-san? Can we sit here with you or is this a private conversation?”  
  
“You’re welcome” replied Mangetsu. “If I were you, however, I would go and see what Karin is up to...”  
  
“Shit!” said Suigetsu, standing up.  
  
Karin had apparently decided to storm into Haruno and Yamanaka’s table like a fury. Konan watched Karin raise the Yamanaka from where she was sitting, shouting insults, before being pushed away by the Haruno with force. Suigetsu was trying to drag Karin away, with little result. Jugo was trying to attract the attention of the bartender, who was watching the scene in amazement.  
  
“Shouldn’t we...?”  
  
“... stop them?” completed Mangetsu, who was filling his mouth again. “Naah”, he mumbled, “it’s nothing strange, don’t worry about it”. Konan stared at him, perplexed. To her, that kind of violence seemed a bit odd. “I mean, it’s been like that since the first year of high school. Maybe I’m used to it by now”, he laughed.  
  
“Okay, but...”  
  
“As soon as you finish the cake we’ll leave if it bothers you”, said Mangetsu. He probably thought it would put her at ease by saying so, but Konan wasn’t upset... just curious about the situation. It was true that it seemed normal, at least judging by the reactions of Suigetsu, Jugo and Sakura. Ino was the most nervous, but she assumed it was a matter of temperament rather than actual surprise.  
  
“It doesn’t bother me, don’t worry” said the girl, going back to her raspberries. It would have been strange the contrary, she brooded.  
  
“Stop fucking around, and sit down” Suigetsu blurted out, finally managing to take her friend away from Ino and Sakura’s table. “God Karin, every time you see them you freak out!”  
  
“Shut up, ‘getsu!” replied Karin, crossing her arms. “Where the fuck am I supposed to sit, eh?”  
  
“There’s room here” replied sarcastic Mangetsu. “All you need to do is take a chair”.  
  
“Oh, great”, she said, “two Hozuki!”  
  
Konan laughed. Karin looked at her sideways for a moment, then seemed to calm down a bit.  
  
“Nice show, eh?” she commented, “by the way, my name is Karin. Uzumaki Karin”.  
  
“Konan, nice to meet you”.  
  
Karin pulled a chair from one of the nearby tables and sat down. “Konan, and?”  
  
“Ito. Ito Konan”. For a moment she hesitated. She still hadn’t decided which last name to use at school, whether their uncles’ or her parents’. Karin’s question had taken her by surprise. She felt a slight discomfort starting to build inside her. She swallowed the last piece of cake with effort.  
  
“Uhm. What school do you go to?” Karin asked.  
  
Konan had no desire to explain her situation to a complete stranger. She searched with a glance for Mangetsu, who was arguing with his brother. No help from him, perfect.  
  
“I just moved in recently, I have to start my fifth year at Yuusei”. Omitting wasn’t like lying, her father had told her once.  
  
“Aaah, we’ll see each other often then” commented Karin. “Do you already know which section?”  
  
“For fucks’ sakes Karin, is this an interview?” exclaimed Mangetsu, distracted for a minute.  
  
“I don’t think so” mumbled the girl. “But Jugo?” she then asked, scanning the bar with her eyes. There was no sign of the guy with orange hair, nor of Sakura and Ino. Suigetsu shrugged his shoulders.  
  
“I don’t know”.  
  
“He must be talking to the bartender to see if they need a hand. I think he’s looking for a job”, Karin reasoned aloud.  
  
“Maybe” said Mangetsu. Konan stood up, her cell phone in her hand.  
  
“I’ll be gone for a moment, my aunt is calling me...”  
  
“No problem” replied the Hozuki.

*

“Hello?”  
  
“Konan!” Her aunt’s voice was too loud. “Where are you?”  
  
“I’m with a friend, we went to the mall...”  
  
“You could have left a note!” shouted the woman.  
  
“You too”, mumbled Konan quietly. “I’ll be back shortly”.  
  
“At what time?”  
  
“Soon” repeated the girl. “I won’t be late, don’t worry”.  
  
“Do you have the keys?” asked aunt Ito.  
  
“Why?”  
  
“God, Konan. Is it so difficult to answer a question?” There was a heavy sigh and a few seconds of silence. “Seiji and I are having dinner with some friends tonight, we don’t know what time we’ll be back. That’s why I asked you if you had the keys”.  
  
“I... yes, I have the keys”.  
  
“Come back soon and be careful”. Her aunt hung up before the girl could say anything.

*

“Are you sure you don’t want to come over for dinner?” Mangetsu asked. Konan shook her head.  
  
“No, don’t worry. Thanks anyway”.  
  
As soon as Konan had closed the phone call, Mangetsu got up, anxious to leave. Karin and Suigetsu were bickering again, Jugo hadn’t yet reappeared but he had written to his friends saying that he would soon finish the interview with the bar manager. Karin was right.  
  
“You’re welcome” replied the boy. “See you tomorrow, then” he concluded, returning her umbrella. On the way back it had finally stopped raining.  
  
“Sure”. She hesitated. “It’s going to be alright...”  
  
Mangetsu shrugged his shoulders. “I did what I could” he said. He smiled at her. “Come on, I let you go now... don’t study too much” he laughed.  
  
“I’ll try” replied Konan, entering the house with a half-smile. Turning to close the door, she watched Mangetsu’s skinny back disappear down the stairs of the apartment building. It was so easy to spend time with him, talking about nothing important.  
  
She locked the door and went into the kitchen to get something to eat.

*

“Oi!” greeted Mangetsu as he entered the house.  
  
“It was about time!” his mother addressed him from the kitchen, overwhelming the noise of the oven. “Dinner is almost ready!”  
  
“Great ma’” replied the boy, reaching her at the stove. “I walked my friend back home, that’s why it took me a while...”  
  
“What friend?” asked the woman. “Do I know her?”  
  
“Ma’... come on” mumbled Mangetsu.  
  
Kaoru Hozuki was curious, but not mean. Seeing her son’s embarrassment, she retreated with a resigned smile. “All right. Bring her for dinner once, though!”  
  
“She’s just a schoolmate!” he blurted out, blushing.  
  
“Who are you talking about?” Suigetsu walked into the kitchen, attracted a little bit by the rumor and a little bit by the scent of the roast that had spread throughout the house.  
  
“Nobody!”  
  
“Your brother walks girls home, about whom I know nothing!” complained the woman. Suigetsu frowned.  
  
“Did you walk that Kumiko home?”  
  
“Konan” hissed Mangetsu. “And that’s none of your business!”  
  
“Konan!” exclaimed Kaoru. “What a beautiful name!”  
  
“Mom!”  
  
“Suigetsu, call dad. Mangetsu, since you don’t want to tell anything, it’ll mean that you’ll wash the dishes afterwards...”  
  
“That’s not fair at all...”

*

The morning came quickly, and with it the anxiety for the upcoming exams. Konan tried to make it as short as possible to have breakfast, get dressed and go out, but she couldn’t avoid her aunt who was waiting at the door to wish her good luck.  
  
“Good luck Konan-chan”, Ayame said. “I’m sure it’ll be fine”.  
  
“I hope so, auntie” replied the girl. Her aunt smiled at her, comforting. Then she grimaced.  
  
“You could have taken that thing off your face, at least today...”  
  
Konan brushed her lips. “No one will notice, auntie” she murmured. Ayame sighed, watching her niece go out.  
  
“I don’t know if I’ll be back for lunch, I’ll call you later” Konan warned her on the way out. She had heard her phone vibrating in her trousers’ pocket, at that hour it could only be Mangetsu. She didn’t wait for the answer: she rushed down the stairs, taking the steps two by two.  
  
At the entrance of the building she found Mangetsu, nervous. Usually it was Konan who went to him, but this time it seemed that the boy had made an exception to the rule.  
  
“It’s about time!”  
  
“We’re early” commented the girl. They walked towards the subway station. “You look nervous”.  
  
“I am” mumbled Mangetsu. “If I don’t pass it, I’ll have to repeat the year”.  
  
“You’ll pass it. You have prepared so much for this exam”.  
  
The boy made a grimace. “You, rather? Nervous?”  
  
“Well, yes... but mine are supplements... it’s a little different...”  
  
“Mmmh...”  
  
  
  
  
The boy’s mood continued to plummet, and when they finally arrived at the gate of the institute, at ten past eight, Mangetsu seemed on the verge of fainting at any moment. He was cadaverous.  
  
“Do you want to have a coffee before we go in?” asked Konan, worried.  
  
“No, no, I can manage...”  
  
“As you wish” she murmured. It was useless to insist.  
  
“I’ll smoke a cigarette and we’ll go inside” said Mangetsu. “Is that alright?”  
  
  
  
“Oi, ‘getsu!” The shout attracted their attention. Mangetsu immediately located the source.  
  
“Tayuya!”  
  
A short girl, with long purple hair, detached herself from a small group of boys not far away and headed towards them practically running.  
  
“Are you okay?”  
  
“Everyone asked me today” Mangetsu puffed, lighting a cigarette.  
  
“It must be because you look like you have to barf” said Tayuya sarcastically. She looked at Konan, who remained silent. “Are you new?”  
  
“Yes... I also have an exam. An integration” replied Konan.  
  
“Cool” commented Tayuya. “Certainly better than having to pass physics”.  
  
“Yeah” mumbled Mangetsu.  
  
Tayuya rolled her eyes. “What a drag you are, ‘getsu. It’s going to be just fine!”  
  
“Yes, yes...”  
  
“Do you already know which room we’re taking the exam in?” asked Konan.  
  
“No, I think they’ll tell us before we go in...” Tayuya stood up on her toes, staring at something behind Konan. “Looks like something is moving, anyway...”  
  
“It is” commented one of the guys in her group, who approached them to retrieve her. “We have to go”.  
  
“It’s time, uh?” Tayuya huffed. “See you inside then” she said, waving goodbye to Mangetsu specifically and just throwing a glance at Konan.  
  
Mangetsu nodded, taking one last drag. “We’re coming”. It hadn’t escaped him that Konan had practically stopped talking. He didn’t know how to interpret her silence. “Hey...”  
  
“Yes?” The girl looked at him, distracted from whatever her thoughts were. “Sorry, I got distracted for a second”.  
  
“I noticed. Shall we go too?”  
  
“Yes...”  
  
“It’ll be fine, you know” he said. The fact that he himself, white as marble and clearly agitated, tried to cheer her up made her smile.  
  
“I hope so”.


	2. Chapter 2

At eleven twenty-five, Konan placed the pen on the desk and re-read the exam for the umpteenth time. She seemed to have done a good job, all things considered. Only five minutes to go before the time was up.  
  
Two rows ahead, Mangetsu’s head was hunched over the desk. The girl hoped he wasn’t too far behind.  
  
“Ito”. Professor Morino moved towards her, leaving his spot in the corner of the classroom. “Are you all done?”  
  
“Yes” replied Konan. “Can I hand over?”  
  
“There are still five minutes left” replied the man. A few weeks earlier, Mangetsu had given her a quick excursus on all the teacher she would have had that year and had called Morino a stern bastard. The girl could well get an idea of the reason why.  
  
“Ibiki”, called Anko Mitarashi, sitting on the desk and deeply bored for about two and a half hours, “if she’s finished I’d say she can go out, there are only five minutes left...”  
  
“Mmmh” commented Morino, “all right. Go ahead, Ito”.  
  
Konan didn’t make him repeat it twice: she put her things in her bag and left the classroom quickly, taking a look at Mangetsu who didn’t even raise his head from the paper.  
  
  
There wasn’t a soul in the hallway, but from the loud buzz in the background it seemed that the atrium of the institute was crowded with people. A consideration that proved to be well-founded.  
  
 _Man, how many people are there_ , Konan thought. It seemed like everyone was waiting for the end of the exams, including the teachers.  
  
“Hey! Konan...?!” Suigetsu’s voice diverted her from contemplation. He was making his way through the people with Jugo, heading towards her.  
  
“Has Mangetsu finished?”  
  
“Not yet”.  
  
“It’s not good” commented Suigetsu, making a grimace.  
  
“I hope it went well” muttered Konan.  
  
“This isn’t the first time that Mangetsu had to re-take a subject. He must be an expert by now” commented Hozuki, but he didn’t seem convinced of what he said either.  
  
Jugo shrugged his shoulders. “He’ll find out soon anyway”.  
  
“When will the results come out?” Suigetsu asked.  
  
Konan hesitated. “If classes start out tomorrow, maybe already today?”  
  
“How can they come out today?” said Suigetsu. He didn’t roll his eyes, but the tone suggested that he would have done it gladly if he had just been more familiar. Konan wasn’t sure she liked that sarcastic attitude.  
  
“That’s how I understood it too” muttered Jugo, thoughtful.  
  
  
“Ohi!” Tayuya approached them, dragging her friends along. “How did it go?” she asked Konan.  
  
“I hope it went well...”  
  
“Yes, come on” stepped in one of Tayuya’s friends. He was much taller than her – in fact, he was the tallest of the group – and had black hair gathered in a messy topknot. “By the way, I’m Kidomaru”.  
  
“How dumb, I haven’t even introduced you!” exclaimed Tayuya.  
  
“Go on sleeping” commented another, mockingly. It was difficult to be more pungent than Suigetsu, but he crossed that line without any problems. “Kimimaro” he said simply, addressing Konan. “And he’s Sakon” he concluded.  
  
“I’m Konan” the girl introduced herself.  
  
“You’re mean” huffed Tayuya. Kimimaro blew her a smile but said nothing else. Kidomaru made a frown.  
  
“They should all be finished” commented Jugo.  
  
“Yes, here’s Mangetsu” confirmed the boy named Sakon, pointing to the corridor behind them.  
  
  
“Don’t ask me how it went” exhaled the Hozuki, approaching the others with a terrible face.  
  
“We’re off to a good start” stated Konan.  
  
Kidomaru laughed. “Was it that bad?”  
  
“Even worse” muttered Mangetsu. “Let’s go eat, come on”.  
  
No one objected, so the group left school and headed for a small cafe nearby, the Kiri. Konan had never been there, nor had she ever heard of it, but the two Hozuki brothers had marched at a fast pace in his direction, and no one had proposed another place.  
  
  
Apparently they hadn’t been the only ones to choose it, because the small bar was overcrowded. Tayuya had clung to Sakon’s arm to keep from losing them.  
  
“It’s super full!” she exclaimed, raising her voice to be heard. Konan nodded, looking around. A few of the guys in there had taken the exam with her earlier; she recognized a guy in a sweatshirt with red tattoos on his cheeks, his hood up despite the stuffy air. She couldn’t remember his name, but she had other things to think about at that moment, such as the fact that someone in front of her was stomping on her feet inanely. Someone almost four inches taller than her, so she had no qualms about giving him a shove.  
  
  
“Oh, what the fuck?!” The guy turned around, irked. “What the fuck do you want?”  
  
 _An albino_ , thought Konan surprised. “You were stepping on my toes”.  
  
“Well, how strange! There’s not even room to breathe!” he blurted. One of the boys next to him slapped him on the nape of the head.  
  
“Will you stop yelling?”  
  
“Asshole!” retorted the albino in response, leaving the girl alone.  
  
“Konan”, Mangetsu caught her attention, “we’d better change the spot, I want to have lunch by today”.  
  
“You chose to come here” the girl pointed out to him, rather impatiently.  
  
“I didn’t think the whole school would come too!”  
  
“Nice crappy choice, Moody-getsu” remarked Suigetsu, who seemed amuse by the whole situation.  
  
“You wanted to come here too!”  
  
“Guys”, Kidomaru interjected. “There are some small tables outside. I’ll try to see if there’s some room”. He headed outside, moving casually through the crowd and disappearing past the glass door to the entrance.  
  
Konan noticed Kimimaro following his friend with his eyes. He hadn’t opened his mouth since earlier but his green eyes were alert even when he seemed not to be listening.  
  
  
“You’re such a jerk, Suigetsu”.  
  
“Look who’s talking”.  
  
“Do you have to argue right here? Fuck!” snapped Tayuya. The expletive made the guy from before, the albino foot crusher, turn around and burst out laughing upon seeing the source of the noise.  
  
“Tell him, baby!”  
  
“What did you call me?!” Tayuya yanked away from Sakon, but Sakon had known her too long not to know how this would turn out if he didn’t intervene, so he held her by the arm. “Get the fuck off of me! Let me go!”  
  
“Hidan...”. The guy from the smack earlier had turned around three-quarters, quite obviously ready to give him at least a couple more.  
  
In the midst of that confusion, Konan felt her cell phone vibrate in her jacket pocket. This wasn’t a good sign. She remembered telling her aunt that she would call home once the exam was over, but she had forgotten. She sighed. She had little desire to listen to a lecture about respect and not having to give any more worries...  
  
“Oi”, Mangetsu was looking at her with a big question mark in his gaze.  
  
“I have to go out for a moment”, Konan said without returning his gaze, fixed on the cell phone display. “I’m being called”. She walked out, jostling and muttering apologies with every step, wondering how Kidomaru had managed to slip through the crowd so gracefully. _Innate skill.  
  
  
  
_

*

  
  


“Hello, auntie...?”  
  
“ _Konan!_ ” shrieked Ayame Ito.  
  
“Sorry auntie, I forgot to call you...”  
  
“You can’t do that, Konan! I’ve been worried sick!” The woman sounded like she was on the verge of tears, and Konan felt her stomach close up. _She’s right. I should have thought of that.  
  
_ “I’m sorry” she murmured. “I didn’t think about it”.  
  
“I know you didn’t think about it, Konan-chan. However... if you say you’re going to call me at a certain hour, or at a certain place, you have to do it... otherwise I’ll be worried”, Ayame seemed to have regained control of her nerves.  
  
The girl heard in the background her uncle ask something.  
  
“Seiji asks if you’re coming back for lunch...”  
  
“No auntie, I’m eating out. I’ll be back in the afternoon”. Konan realized she had been looking down at the ground the entire phone call, heedless of who she had around her. Looking up, she saw that inside the bar, the situation had escalated significantly: Sakon was restraining Tayuya (who was apparently screaming), forcibly; the guy named Hidan was laughing but he too was being physically restricted by his friend; Kimimaro was laughing; the two Hozuki were still arguing regardless of the chaos around them. Shifting her gaze, Konan noticed Kidomaru sitting at a vacant table and busy smoking a cigarette, blissful and placid. Noticing her, he raised an arm and flashed her a smile.  
  
“Alright. It’s fine” Ayame said. “Don’t worry, okay? Next time remember to call”.  
  
“Alright auntie. Sorry again”. Konan ended the call by approaching the coffee table. “Why didn’t you come back in again? We were waiting for you”.  
  
“I would have been back in if they hadn’t started fighting” Kidomaru huffed with a shrug. “I’m not interested in fights. Besides, I wanted to smoke”.  
  
“Then I’ll handle it”.  
  
  
  


*

  
  
  


Inside the bar, the situation had spiralled quickly.  
  
 _What do I do?  
  
_ “You little shit”, Hidan was howling by then, uncaring of his surroundings, “come here and repeat what you said!”  
  
“Sakon, _fuck_!” Tayuya was trying hard to pull off, but her friend was enduring stoically.  
  
Konan was more than used to scenes like this. Just because she had attended a private school didn’t mean she had never witnessed – or triggered – a brawl or arguments like that. No, what was new was being directly involved. She decided to handle the lesser of two evils first, and turned to the Hozuki brothers, who seemed to have spontaneously chosen to put a stop to the argument they were having.  
  
“Kidomaru has found a place outside” said the girl.  
  
“Great” replied Mangetsu, “too bad there’s Harukaze to deal with now”.  
  
“Speak for yourself” snorted Suigetsu, “I’m going out”, and so he did, followed by Kimimaro, leaving Konan and Mangetsu alone.  
  
“Tayuya, knock it off and let’s get out!” snapped Sakon, tugging at his friend. She gave him the middle finger in return.  
  
“You stop yanking me!”  
  
“Oi Kakuzu, let go of me”. Hidan was also protesting but his friend had no intention of allowing him to go.  
  
“Fuck you Hidan”.  
  
Seizing the chance, Konan approached Tayuya and Sakon. “There’s place outside. Shall we go?” She sensed Mangetsu springing on his legs behind her, probably watching the two of them... Hidan and Kakuzu.  
  
Sakon nodded. Tayuya glared at Konan, her nostrils still flaring from the outburst early on, red in the face. Konan sustained her gaze, not smiling. “Shall we go?” she only repeated. Tayuya didn’t answer, merely nodded.  
  
“Fine”. They all walked out, joining the others at the tables. Konan looked over her shoulder one last time before going back outdoors: Hidan had reached the bar counter and was leaning against it, grinning; Kakuzu was sitting at a table already occupied by two boys, both with peculiar hair: one had bright red hair, while the other one was basically orange. It was the latter boy who met Konan’s gaze, which lingered.  
  
He _didn’t_ simile at her.  
  
Konan decided to join the others, letting the door slam behind her.  
  
  
Kidomaru was on his third cigarette. “Oi, Konan. You made it out”.  
  
“You could have come and called us” Kimimaro replied.  
  
“I didn’t feel like it”.  
  
“Tsk”.  
  
“But Jugo?” asked Suigetsu. “Where did he go?”  
  
There was a moment of silence.  
  
“He really likes to disappear” mumbled Mangetsu.  
  
“He’s not very sociable” replied his brother. “He does that a lot”.  
  
“Hi guys”, a waitress chimed in, “have you ordered yet...?”

  
  


*

“Kidomaru... you make me sick”, Kimimaro scoffed. Kidomaru, who was swallowing a handful of fries at once, gave him a pointed look.  
  
“Indeed” Tayuya snickered.  
  
Kidomaru ignored them both.  
  
“You don’t look any better, Tayuya” Sakon said with a smirk. His friend poked his side with her fork. “Hey!”  
  
Konan enjoyed her sandwich, peacefully. She wasn’t hungry at all, but she wasn’t going to be able to get by all afternoon on an empty stomach. Of course, Mangetsu when he had seen what should have been her lunch coming, had surged and gone into hen mode. The others had poked fun at him, but the Hozuki didn’t care, busy as he was convincing Konan to eat something else. She had smiled and declined, politely, because even though the insistence bothered her she understood that he was in good faith.  
  
“How long have you two known each other?” asked Tayuya, curious. “You argue like me and Sakon!”  
  
“Like you _and you_ , you mean”, Sakon said, “or like you and Kidomaru. Or you and Kimimaro. Or you and Kin. Or you and whatever breathes...”  
  
“Okay, okay! We get the point”, the girl glared at him because her fork had been taken away from her by Kimimaro, who had started stealing fries from Kidomaru’s plate.  
  
“Not that long ago. Since mid-June”, Konan pondered. “We met in review classes”.  
  
“I don’t remember ever seeing you, though” said Kimimaro. “With that hair, I’d remember”.  
  
Suigetsu laughed at the frank comment, Mangetsu instead arched his eyebrows.  
  
“You of all people are talking about hair?” he motioned with his head to Kimimaro’s white hair.  
  
“I didn’t know you were such a _mother hen_ , Mangetsu- _chan_ ”.  
  
“I changed school right after fourth grade”, Konan interjected, calmly. _And if they ask my why, what do I say?_ She hadn’t even told Mangetsu, whom she had known for a few months now.  
  
“Where were you before?” asked Tayuya.  
  
 _Well, I can answer that.  
  
_ “At Kuregama”.  
  
Silence.  
  
“It’s private, the Kuregama” commented Kidomaro, lighting another cigarette.  
  
“Yes” said Konan. She felt everyone’s eyes on her, but only Kimimaro’s had darkened upon hearing the name of her former school.  
  
  
And just then Jugo came in, breathing heavily. “Sorry guys, I forgot something at school...”  
  
“You could have warned me!” retorted Suigetsu.  
  
“I wrote you...”  
  
“Uh?” Suigetsu pulled out his cell phone and checked it. His ears reddened. “Mpf”.  
  
“Anyway... I asked when the results will come out and they confirmed that they’ll be known by today”.  
  
“Weird, they usually take ages” mumbled Tayuya.  
  
“Better that way”, Sakon said. Mangetsu turned pale upon hearing Jugo’s words.  
  
“Oi Moody-getsu, don’t pass out!”  
  
“He’s going to throw up...”  
  
“We’d better pay up, before they shoo us away...”  
  
  
  


*

  
  
  


“You always have to make yourself recognizable”, Sasori commented when Hidan sat down at the table as well.  
  
“Screw you, Akasuna”.  
  
“Exactly...”  
  
“It’s not like I started it” Hidan defended himself, unnerved. He looked over to the counter. “Where the fuck is my lunch?” he wondered aloud.  
  
“You just ordered” Kakuzu replied. “What do you expect?”  
  
“Decent service!”  
  
Kakuzu rolled his green eyes and sank into his sweatshirt, crossing his arms.  
  
The only one who hadn’t said a word yet was Pain. He was staring at something behind Hidan, as unfazed as ever.  
  
The waitress arrived with the orders. “Here you go, guys...”  
  
“Hallelujah!” exclaimed Hidan, snatching the plates from her hand. Kakuzu elbowed him. The girl backed away, face red.  
  
“Crazy that you can fuck anything other than your hand, Hidan” remarked Sasori.  
  
The albino choked on the beer he was drinking. “Fuck you!”. He coughed, squinting and fumbling. “You’re just jealous, Akasuna!”  
  
“Of course” the redhead replied. “Jealous of your _prowess_ ”.  
  
Kakuzu made a sound somewhere between a snort and a laugh. “What prowess?”  
  
Hidan flushed, clutching his glass tightly. “Fuck you both!” he repeated. He looked at Pain, who hadn’t opened his mouth yet. Even Sasori was interacting more than him, which was strange. “Nakasaki? Don’t you have anything to say?” The orange finally gave him attention, shifting his gray eyes to him.  
  
“About your performance?”  
  
This time Kakuzu actually laughed, there was no mistaking it. The bastard was _laughing at him.  
  
_ Hidan changed the subject because his hands were starting to itch again. “What were you looking at?” he asked in a swagger.  
  
Pain’s eyes went back to looking outside. “The little group you picked a fight with just now”. His reflection in the glass was thoughtful.  
  
“I didn’t _pick a fight—..._ ”.  
  
“Very much so” Pain continued, ignoring him. He rubbed his chin. “I don’t know the girl with the blue hair. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her before”.  
  
Sasori, Kakuzu and Hidan followed his gaze. That Pain would notice someone, and that that someone was a _girl_ , was too interesting a news to be snubbed.  
  
“She must be new” Sasori said. “If I’d seen her before, I’d remember her”.  
  
“Mh...” Kakuzu had furrowed his brow and was about to say his piece, but he was interrupted by Hidan. “New or not, she shoved me good!”  
  
“You were stepping on her toes. I would have done worse” Kakuzu observed. “She’s sitting with the Hozuki, so maybe Hoshigaki knows her”.  
  
“Perhaps, yes” murmured Pain. He couldn’t force himself not to look at her. _Well, what’s the harm in just looking_ , he thought, getting irritated with himself.  
  
“It’s not like I stomped on her on purpose!” muttered Hidan softly.  
  
“Or maybe Itachi knows her. Suigetsu and those others are Sasuke’s friends, right?” observed Sasori.  
  
Pain nodded. _I want to know what her name is.  
  
_ “Rather, when do the results come out?” asked Hidan.  
  
“Today” replied Kakuzu. “So Itachi says”.  
  
“And who told Itachi- _san_ that?” insisted the albino.  
  
“Shisui-san, I guess” commented Kakuzu.  
  
“Mpf”.  
  
“If you don’t believe me I don’t care, I’m not the one who took the test this morning...”  
  
“But I do believe you!”  
  
“Then change your manners”.  
  
“You’re not my father, Taki!” hissed Hidan. Impossible to tell if he was serious or joking. In doubt, Sasori stood up.  
  
“I’ll pay and go. I’ve had enough”.  
  
“Don’t go, Sasori- _kuuuuuuuuun_!” howled Hidan, trying to grab his friend. Sasori dodged him with a grimace.  
  
“See ya”.  
  
The redhead walked away.  
  
“Are we going too?” Kakuzu ignored Hidan’s wince and turned to Pain, who nodded.  
  
“Yeah, I don’t think it’s too long before the results...” getting up, he cast one last glance at the small table where the blue-haired girl was sitting before, but no one was there anymore. _Too bad.  
  
_ Maybe she had gone back to school with her friends, maybe she too had to check the results of the exams. He was kind of hoping for that. _Who knows why I care, then.  
  
_ Leaving the Kiri, it began to rain.  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First introduction of Akatsuki’s “good foes”! Another detail (I’m writing them as they pop up, sorry for any confusion): Pain’s thoughts will also be in italics. I decided that he and Konan will be the only ones whose thoughts are explicitly written.  
> \+ Kiri doesn’t exist, but I think it was easy to guess from his name. Keep an eye on it because it’s going to become a relevant place.  
> \+ I checked the height of the characters, I wanted the scientific certainty of what I was writing and I wasn’t disappointed – Hidan practically towers over Konan, absurd, I was convinced they were almost the same height. The more you know.  
> \+ Kuregama is the institute that Konan attended before changing.  
> \+ Pain and Konan are a case of interest-at-first-sight.  
> \+ headcanon #1: Suigetsu and Mangetsu are first cousins of Kisame.  
> \+ headcanon #2: Hidan is an albino.  
> \+ Sasori and Hidan are the easiest characters to write, the more you know pt. 2.  
> \+ Kimimaro and Kidomaro are already a couple from the beginning of this fanfic, they’re one of my favorite pairing.


	3. Chapter 3

“Are you feeling better?”  
  
Mangetsu made a grunt, which could be a yes or a no. Konan shook her head, in impatience, but Suigetsu beat her to it.  
  
“You passed and you’re still whining? You’re such a pain in the ass!” he remarked.  
  
  
The results had already been hung on the school bulletin board in the hall. Konan had smiled faintly when she read _admitted_ next to her name, satisfied to have passed that test as well. Finally she could rest easy: given the results, no one would have had anything to object to her being there even if, at the same time, the fact of being _there_ could have aroused curiosity among students and professors.  
  
Still, it was a new school, starting over could undoubtedly be an advantage. She shouldn’t have forgotten that. She should have paid careful attention to her self-image.  
  
_Last year of high school... and first time at Yuusei.  
  
  
_“Do you want to nag too, Konan?” asked Suigetsu, sarcastically, but the girl didn’t resent it. She had noticed that his sarcasm was a habit rather than an actual attack. He addressed his friends that way as well.  
  
“No, I’m satisfied” Konan replied, without losing her smile.  
  
Tayuya cackled. “Good girl, don’t follow Mangetsu’s example”.  
  
“Oi, stop it!” bursted the boy, while crossing his arms. “You busted my—”  
  
  
“Hozuki?” A tall girl with a blonde bob and bright blue eyes approached their small group.  
  
“Sa-Samui?!” Mangetsu managed a nervous smile. “What are you doing here?”  
  
“I came with Omoi-kun, he had to see the results” Samui replied. She shifted her eyes to the board behind Mangetsu’s back. “How did you do?”  
  
“Me? W-well, I guess! I passed!”  
  
Konan met Kidomaru’s stare, which gave her an amused smirk.  
  
“Great” Samui replied, smiling. There was a moment of silence. “So... I’ll see you in class, Hozuki”. When she was at an appropriate distance, Mangetsu turned to look at Konan, his ears red with embarrassment and his eyes wide. The girl burst out laughing, and with her Tayuya and Kidomaru, who had been holding back with great difficulty up to that point.  
  
“What the fuck are you laughing at?!”  
  
“You’re really dense, you know that?” commented Kimimaro, calmly.  
  
“I _know_ I’m just tired of being insulted by a twit like you, Kaguya!”  
  
Kimimaro stopped smiling and Kidomaru frowned.  
  
“Oi Mangetsu, don’t fret”.  
  
“It’s just that... you could have kept talking, instead clamming up like a fish after only three words” Tayuya pointed. “Kimimaro was joking anyway”.  
  
“Not really”.  
  
Kidomaru poked him on the head. “Oi...”  
  
“Oh, come on!” Kimimaro rolled his green eyes, exasperated. “Why didn’t you ask her out?”  
  
“Indeed...” remarked Sakon, thoughtfully. When Mangetsu glared at him, he sustained his gaze and shrugged. “It’s just my opinion...”  
  
“When you’ll do the same with Tsuchi I’ll take you seriously, Yoshida” retorted Mangetsu.  
  
“There’s no point in talking to you, Moody-getsu” Suigetsu huffed, “you refuse all advice and don’t even try”. He shoved into his pockets and looked at Jugo. “Are we going?”  
  
“Yes” replied Jugo. “Are you guys coming with us? We’re meeting Karin and Sasuke, and then we’re going for a ride”.  
  
“A ride where?” asked Sakon.  
  
“I guess probably at the Hebi. It should be open”.  
  
Tayuya wrinkled her nose and shook her head. “Nah, I’ll pass”.  
  
“Yeah, I don’t really want to either” Kidomaro stated.  
  
“Alright then” sighed Suigetsu. “No luck”. He looked at Konan, who was still silent. “And you?”  
  
_Go back to the Hebi? I’d rather hang myself_.  
  
“No, I’ll pass, too” said the girl.  
  
“You don’t know what you’re missing” commented Suigetsu.

*

“You didn’t have to come with me” muttered Mangetsu while they walked.  
  
They had parted ways with the others because Mangetsu had to make a trip to fencing school, and Konan needed to take a walk before returning home so she had chosen to go with him instead of taking the subway. Despite the kindness everyone had shown her she felt she had reached her social limit for the day. She couldn’t wait to be alone with her thoughts and be able to think things through.  
  
“It’s okay. I’m glad”.  
  
“Mpf...”  
  
“... and then I would have gone the same way anyway”. _Sort of.  
  
  
_“Do you think Kaguya was right?” asked Mangetsu out of the blue. “About Samui”.  
  
“I think it’s none of his business” replied Konan. _Although he was probably right..  
  
_Mangetsu laughed. “Kaguya’s a little harsh...”  
  
“No kidding...”  
  
“... he doesn’t mean any harm though. Usually”.  
  
“Do you know him well?”  
  
“Not really. But he’s friends with Stupid-getsu, so he’s at our place a lot. Let’s just say I’ve learned how to treat him” Mangetsu replied.  
  
“Namely by insulting him?” commented Konan sceptically. Hozuki grimaced and didn’t answer. The girl let silence fall between them, focusing on her surroundings.  
  
  
_So, this is Meguro’s neighborhood...  
  
_Beyond Shinagawa, where she lived, the Shibuya area, and Musashino, where her old school was, she had never really explored Tokyo. She had simply lacked the time to think about it, although sometimes while waiting for the subway she caught herself considering what would happen if she got off at a random stop instead of her usual one. It was a fixation she’d had since childhood. Getting lost in a big city, with no other option but to explore it from top to bottom to find her way back home.  
  
  
“Kaguya must be put in his place often, Konan” Mangetsu suddenly started. Konan turned her head to see if he was joking, but the boy’s face was serious.  
  
“I don’t understand, ‘getsu”.  
  
“There’s nothing to understand” Mangetsu mumbled. “Just know that you don’t need to have trouble responding to him in kind, especially when he crosses the line – which is very often”.  
  
“I’ll keep that in mind”. Konan changed the subject and waved to the building on the other side of the traffic light, where they had been waiting for the green light for ten minutes now. “Is that the school?”  
  
“Yeah, that’s right. Not a pretty sight, huh?”  
  
  
It wasn’t at all. For starters, there was no sign identifying it as a fencing school, so God only knew how Mangetsu had found it. The facade was peeling in several places, with the white lead lime in plain sight contrasting violently with the color, a dull brick red.  
  
_The place looked abandoned_.  
  
“Does it have a name?”  
  
Mangetsu burst out laughing. “Hibi no kate”.  
  
“What?”  
  
“That’s what it’s called”, the boy was sneering like an idiot, “hibi no kate. Daily bread”.  
  
Konan raised her eyebrows.  
  
“I certainly didn’t give it that fucking name” Mangetsu muttered. “The owner’s out of his mind from breathing all that shit coming down the walls. He’s been saying he wants to renovate for years but look at the state of the whole structure... he’d save more money if he closed it down and reopened it somewhere else”.  
  
The light changed from red to green. The two crossed the street and reached the entrance to the Hibi.  
  
“Do you want to see what it’s like inside or is the outside enough for you?”  
  
Konan laughed, “I think the two-tone facade is enough for me, but thanks for the offer”.  
  
Mangetsu chuckled as well. “I understand. I’ll see you tomorrow then?”  
  
“I would say so. Did we or did we not pass the test?”  
  
“You can fucking say it”.

*

Sitting in the subway, Konan had pulled out her iPod and tucked in her headphones, diving into the first song on suffle. She lifted the hood of her gray sweatshirt and leaned her head against the window, ignoring the layer of dirt on the surface. She felt so utterly tired, and she was starting to get hungry. She should have eaten more at lunch, Mangetsu had insisted _so_ much... but her stomach had been in knots until she’d seen the test results for herself.  
  
She sighed heavily. _How many stops were there?_ She had checked on the light board earlier but was unsure between five and six. She brushed the piercing on her lip. _I hope at least the headache will leave me alone.  
  
_She turned up the volume a couple of notches when the subway finally decided to go. She didn’t know which was worse, the clanking of the wagons in the darkness or Hyde’s voice in her ears. She sighed again and lost herself in her thoughts.  
  
  
It had been an endless day. She hadn’t considered that Mangetsu might turn out to be particularly _adept_ at social interactions, but she’d been forced to reconsider when what appeared to be his friends had taken her in without a single word. That wasn’t how things generally went for her, especially not when it came to people she didn’t know at all.  
  
_Mangetsu’s friends, Suigetsu’s friends...  
  
_The difference, if there was one, was blurred. Both Hozukis knew and hung out with the same people, though Suigetsu seemed more connected to Jugo than the others. And to that other red-headed girl, Karin. She was relieved she wasn’t around today.  
  
  
_“I just moved in recently, I have to start my fifth year at Yuusei”.  
  
__“Aaah, we’ll see each other often then. Do you already know which section?”  
  
  
__Whatever section it is, I hope it’s not hers as well. Come to think of it, I don’t even know how old she is.  
  
_Maybe she was exaggerating but Karin had made an even worse impression on her than Kimimaro and Suigetsu combined, and that was saying something. The fact that she was a girl further complicated things. Konan had some experience now in recognizing troublemakers at a glance, and she knew what happened when she found one in front of her. She hoped she was wrong.  
  
_I don’t know her_ , she thought. _Cut the paranoia_.  
  
She also seemed pretty damn smart. She’d watched her carefully despite her annoyed tone, and though the questions had been fairly innocuous she hadn’t missed the inquisitive tone in which she’d asked them. She couldn’t afford curious people around, not yet.  
  
_Not until after the deadline for filing a formal complaint. Six more months.  
  
_She’d had the luxury of putting her situation aside, but now that she’d officially joined Yuusei, she knew she couldn’t afford it anymore.  
  
_I’m definitely in for a big year. Machinations and cover-ups...  
  
_“Next stop: Shinagawa” croaked the metallic voice of the subway.  
  
Konan stood up.  
  
_... and endless subway rides._

*

As she entered the house, she heard uncle Seiji’s voice welcoming her back from the living room.  
  
“Thanks uncle” Konan replied, joining him. The man was, predictably, slumped in an armchair; when he saw her he smiled at her.  
  
“There you are. Do you want to have a snack? There should be some tea left in the kitchen, and a slice of tart”.  
  
“Yes” said Konan. Going into the kitchen she heard her uncle calmly get up and follow her. He waited until she had sat down and eaten some of the dessert before he resumed talking.  
  
“How did the exam go?”  
  
“Fine. I passed”.  
  
Seiji arched his eyebrows. “And you already know that for sure?”  
  
“The results came out in the afternoon, which is why after lunch I didn’t come straight home”. She looked at the plate in front of her. She still felt guilty about her aunt’s turmoil at lunchtime.  
  
“Mmmmh...” The man hadn’t sat down, Konan noted. He was standing and watching her. “And is that the truth?”  
  
She knew to expect that question given the situation but still felt a tug at her heart. _He doesn’t believe me. Of course he didn’t.  
  
_“Yes” the girl murmured.  
  
She heard Seiji’s sigh. “Alright then. Ayame is still at work but she’ll be back around seven”.  
  
“Are you going out after that?”  
  
“Maybe. I have a dinner with some colleagues and she might join me”. Her uncle taught Japanese history, language and literature at Waseda University, one of the most prestigious universities in Tokyo. Konan supposed she should have been impressed: she remembered the astonished expressions and envy on the faces of her classmates at Kuregama when she had introduced herself the first day, but personally she was indifferent to it.  
  
He wasn’t her _father_ , after all.  
  
“I get it”.  
  
“Are you planning on going out?”  
  
“No, I don’t feel like it”.  
  
“You could invite that blue-haired friend of yours... Hozuki?”  
  
Konan stood up and put her plate in the dishwasher, then washed her hands in the sink. “I don’t feel like it” she repeated curtly. She didn’t want to get worked up and argue, and she immediately regretted the way she had responded, but she didn’t apologize. She continued talking, “We’re not that close yet”.  
  
“I see”. The phone began to ring. “I’ll take it, don’t worry” her uncle said as he walked out of the kitchen.  
  
Konan heaved a sigh, wiping her hands. She didn’t even know if it had been a real lie that one, whether or not they had been in confidence had just been an excuse. Pretty lame, by the way. _But really, I’ve had enough of people for today.  
  
  
_The rest of the afternoon passed quickly between Konan in her room reading and her uncle in the living room watching television. At seven o’clock Ayame appeared, entering the house like a cyclone.  
  
“Seiji, Konan-chan! I’m home!”  
  
Her husband answered the greeting from the other room.  
  
“Where’s Konan?” asked Ayame aloud, hanging up her coat in the hall and slipping on a pair of worn slippers.  
  
“In her room”.  
  
“I’m here, auntie” the girl replied, choosing that moment to walk down the stairs and be seen. As soon as she had heard the door open she had left the room, standing on the landing in the dark, trying to determine if the woman was still upset about the events of the afternoon. Hearing her warm greeting, she had put caution aside and gone downstairs.  
  
“How did you do on the exam? Was it difficult?”  
  
_She kept these questions to herself all day_ thought Konan. It was obvious her aunt was feeling anxious and didn’t bother to hide it. She could understand.  
  
“It went well, I didn’t find it that hard. And I already know I passed, the results came out in the afternoon. Right after lunch”.  
  
Ayame clapped her hands, happy. “That’s great news!”  
  
Konan was relieved that her uncle had chosen to stay where he was instead of joining them in the lobby. She didn’t know if she would tolerate his sceptical look a second time.  
  
“Yes, I'm happy too”.  
  
“I can imagine” Ayame replied with a smile.  
  
“Ayame, honey”. Seiji finally deigned to appear. “The reservation is for seven forty”.  
  
“I’ll get ready right away. Konan, you’ll be alone for dinner tonight”. Ayame was sorry but Konan would be bouncing with joy. “I’m sorry but Seiji wanted me to come with him... anyway we’ll be back soon”.  
  
“Don’t worry auntie”.  
  
  
Konan went back to her room and stayed there until she heard his uncles go out. She smiled happily.  
  
“Finally!” she said out loud, walking out of the room. First, she connected her phone to the Bluetooth speaker in the living room and selected one of her favorite playlists. Then she went to the kitchen, unsure what to do next. She looked in the fridge but didn’t feel inspired. She closed it with a snort.  
  
_Maybe I can order something...  
  
_She went to flop on the couch, scrolling through the pizzerias in the area to find one that made home deliveries.  
  
_Like hell I’m going to go get it._

*

At eight forty-five, the doorbell rang. Konan launched herself toward the door.  
  
“Coming!”  
  
“No problem” replied the delivery man. He had a voice... familiar?  
  
Konan opened the door.  
  
“...!”  
  
Kidomaru burst out laughing loudly. The sound echoed in the hallway. “There was something familiar about the name, indeed”.  
  
Konan smiled at him, still surprised. Was she supposed to say something to him? Joke about it?  
  
“I’m a little stunned, sorry. I didn’t expect that” the girl commented at last.  
  
The boy shrugged his shoulders. “Don’t worry, you’re not the first Yuusei student to order a pizza. In fact, now that I think about it...” Kidomaru pulled the receipt out of his jeans pocket. Konan felt her ears redden as she thought about what she had ordered.  
  
“You might be the first one to order a pizza, a side of fried potatoes and mozzarella, and a veggie calzone”. The boy sneered. “Mangetsu should have pushed harder at lunch”.  
  
“Don’t tell him that, please” Konan replied. “I don’t want to see him in hen mode again”.  
  
“Your secret is safe with me” said Kidomaru. He handed her the box with dinner.  
  
“Here”. Konan held out the money to him. “Keep the change”.  
  
“Mmmh” Kidomaru said, “thank you”.  
  
“You’re welcome”. Was she supposed to continue the conversation? “When do you finish your shift?”  
  
“Eleven o’clock during the week, weekends until two”.  
  
“Sounds heavy”.  
  
“Nah, not too much”. Kidomaru tilted his head and motioned to the apartment behind her. “Your parents aren’t there?”  
  
“They’re out. I have the night to myself” Konan said. She gathered her breath. “It’s my aunt and uncle anyway...” she added, uncomfortably.  
  
_Why am I even telling him this? Why would he even care?_ She already regretted clearing up that misunderstanding. _Newcomer AND orphan_.  
  
Kidomaru looked at her for a moment, before sketching a face. “Didn’t you also order some discomfort?”  
  
“Maybe, now that I think about it” Konan replied, relieved that the boy had downplayed it.  
  
“I’d better get back to work before I do any more damage” Kidomaru mumbled. “I’ll see you at school, Konan”.  
  
Konan watched him walk down the stairs with his delivery backpack on his shoulder and his ponytail swaying more unkempt than ever. She walked back into the house and went to the kitchen with her meal, putting the potatoes and calzone in the oven and setting the pizza box on the table.  
  
She barely smiled as she heard the sound of Kidomaru’s scooter driving away.  
  
_Newcomer AND orphan, but not feeling discomfortable_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wanted to warn you: the chapters are coming out so fast because they have already been written before, the only thing I have to do is translate them. Once I get to the fourth chapter, the pace will slow down a bit because 1) I'm writing the chapters as I go along even though I'm naturally following a plot already set up, and 2) I'm also moving forward with the other story of Boku no hero academia. I'm posting a chapter there and a chapter here so that I can move forward at the same pace without neglecting either one.  
> What else? The pace is slow, the characters many, but Kidomaru is here with pizza and the ability to turn an indiscreet question into a crappy joke.  
> All kidding aside, thanks for the kudos and bookmarking. This story means a lot to me and knowing it's being appreciated is encouraging.  
> Oh and the comments motivate me. They're my fuel. Heh.


	4. Chapter 4

What woke Pain up were Kisame’s screams.  
  
 _What the fuck...?  
  
_ He blinked a few times, trying to figure out what exactly was going on. The light invaded the room, illuminating the beer bottles left on the desk and the general chaos that reigned supreme in his friend’s room. He sat down on the mattress Kisame had lent him for the night.  
  
  
“WHY DID YOU THROW IT AWAY?!”  
  
“YOU’RE GRADUATING THIS YEAR, KISAME! YOU CAN’T WASTE TIME ON THIS NONSENSE!”  
  
  
If he had known that stopping to sleep at the Hoshigaki house would involve such a wake-up call, he would never have stayed. He struggled to get up from the inflatable mattress, stretching his sore muscles. Agreeing to sleep on the floor had been a shitty choice, but the alternative would have been searching in the dark for the guest room. In the dark and vaguely tipsy – he hadn’t _gotten drunk_ on that stupid beer, absolutely.  
  
Barging into Kisame’s parents’ room wasn’t something he wanted to experience anytime soon so he’d resigned himself to sleeping on the floor.  
  
  
“IT’S NOT NONSENSE!”  
  
“KISAME, DON’T RAISE YOUR VOICE AT _ME_!”  
  
  
Whatever was going on in the living room, he hoped it would be over as soon as possible. He didn’t want to appear in the middle of an argument.  
  
He put on his clothes from the day before, a pair of used and abused black jeans and a wine red sweater. He retrieved his phone from under Kisame’s bed – God only knew how it got there – and checked the time.  
  
He cursed loudly.  
  
  
“Oi, easy with the words”, Kisame said as he entered the room. He had a terrible look on his face, as if something – or someone – had shredded him and spit him back out whole. Presumably the one responsible was his mother.  
  
“Pardon”, Pain mumbled.  
  
Kisame made a sympathetic noise, then pointed to the phone Pain was holding. “Bad news?”  
  
“Besides no time for breakfast?”  
  
“So you say!” laughed Kisame. “There’s always time for that”, he added seriously, “but we’d better go to Kiri for it”.  
  
Pain said nothing about any of it. Kisame would never answer an _everything alright?_ and Pain could easily gauge how he felt.  
  
He slid his phone into his jeans and hinted at the mattress on the floor. “Want some help with this?”  
  
“Yeah...”  
  
Kisame didn’t say _thank you_ , but Pain had seen his posture relax when he’d changed the subject and that was enough for him.  
  
“Do you have some aspirin?”

*

“Sasori, do you have any aspirin?”  
  
“What makes you think I carry aspirin...” mumbled Sasori.  
  
  
It was seven forty. Pain and the others were supposed to be at school by eight at the latest since the first day would feature the beginning of the year speech and club presentations by the previous year’s school representatives. However, that hadn’t stopped Pain, Kisame and currently Sasori from getting together at Kiri for breakfast.  
  
  
“What do you need an aspirin for anyway? It’s seven in the morning” Sasori noted, arching his eyebrows.  
  
Pain would have _liked_ to reply with some dignity but Kisame burst out laughing loudly. “We had a couple of beers last night and he got hammered” he replied, preceding him. Pain took the opportunity to elbow him in the side.  
  
“I didn’t get _hammered_ ”, he pointed out. “And it wasn’t even a _couple_ ”.  
  
“Whatever you say” muttered Kisame.  
  
Sasori was shaking his head without speaking.  
  
Kiri’s door opened and closed with an icy gust. Pain squeezed tighter into his leather jacket. He hated the cold.  
  
“Oi...” Kakuzu sat down next to Sasori.  
  
“You were quick”, Kisame commented.  
  
“I was already in Meguro when you wrote me. I left early this morning”, Kakuzu replied. He lowered the hood of his sweatshirt. “Where are the others?”  
  
“Hidan is somewhere on the subway. Deidara and Itachi are missing”.  
  
  
The waitress – different from the one who Hidan had attacked the day before – approached to take Kakuzu’s order. He only asked for a black coffee, and the girl didn’t take long to bring it over. A quiet silence fell over the group, each of them absorbed in their own thoughts.  
  
“Isn’t Itachi coming to school with Shisui? It’s the first day after all”, Sasori asked. Judging by the way he was clutching his cup of green tea and the way he was all hunched up in his chair, he was feeling the chill as much and more than Pain. On his face, however, he had his usual impassive expression.  
  
“It might be, yes”, Kisame conceded hesitantly. He checked the notifications again, awkwardly moving the saucer with the brioche to put his phone in its place. “Deidara should be here any minute”.  
  
  
Kiri’s door swung open violently. Sasori sighed. Sometimes he wondered why he found it so easy to distinguish Deidara’s presence from anyone else’s.  
  
“Good morning~!” greeted Deidara as he entered, earning a smile from the bartender, busy cleaning a stain on the counter.  
  
“Yamanaka-san! What can I get you?”, the waitress asked, approaching with the order pad in hand.  
  
“A cappuccino and an empty brioche. Thank you, Matsuri-chan”, Deidara answered. Matsuri blushed slightly and went back behind the counter.  
  
“Show-off”, Sasori murmured when Deidara was close enough to the table to hear him. The blonde smiled at him.  
  
“Unlike you, _I_ know how to act, un”.  
  
Sasori didn’t grace him with an answer.  
  
Deidara reviewed the faces of his friends. Kisame was looking at something on his phone with an amused grin; Kakuzu was staring with hostility at his coffee; Sasori and Pain wer probably freezing judging by their posture, though he really wouldn’t bet on it. They both were stiff with any weather.  
  
“Well? Did someone die?” Deidara grabbed a chair from the table next to him and sat down next to Sasori.  
  
  
 _Sbam.  
  
  
_ “Oi!”  
  
“My will to live”, Kakuzu said, chugging down his coffee all at once. Hidan pranced towards them, more buoyant than ever, and when he was close enough he launched himself at Kakuzu.  
  
“‘Kuzu!”  
  
“What the fuck are you doing!” Kakuzu tried to push him away.  
  
“The mess you make, un” mumbled Deidara. Hidan yanked his hair in response. Kakuzu seized the moment to break free from his grasp, standing up and stepping away.  
  
“Have you ordered yet?”  
  
“Obviously”, Kakuzu replied. “If we had waited for you...”  
  
“You never wake up in a good mood, eh?” retorted Hidan.  
  
“You can take this one, Itachi went straight to school” said Kisame, nudging the last brioche towards Hidan, who grabbed it happily.  
  
“Great!”  
  
“Hurry up, we have to go” said Pain, checking the time.  
  
“Like you give a damn about being on time” sulked Hidan, chewing.  
  
“Getting there on time means better seats”, Pain replied. He should have stopped by his house to get another coat. The frost seemed to have seeped in even under the sweater. “And you really want to argue with Morino on the first day anyway?”  
  
“Nah. I’d like to go back to bed instead” Hidan replied, ending his chewing.  
  
“Tell me about it” commented Kisame.  
  
They stood up, leaving the paying to Deidara – Matsuri blushed once more when she found him at the register – and once the blonde caught up with them, they headed for Yuusei.

*

_It’s crowded. Where is Mangetsu...?  
_  
Konan lowered her eyes on her phone, re-reading the message that Hozuki had sent her.  
  
 **I’m in the fourth row, towards the outside :)  
  
** Naturally, he hadn’t specified whether to the right or left. The girl sighed.  
  
  
The amphitheatre-like room where the beginning of the year speech was to be given – so Konan had read on the bulletin board in the hall – was simply ginormous, and it was already three-quarters full. Konan thought she had been up well in advance, anticipating that it would be complicated to find a seat, but apparently everyone had made the same assumption.  
  
She moved from the entrance and began to descend, peering down the rows to find Mangetsu’s white hair.  
  
  
“Ito?”  
  
Someone grasped her by the sleeve of her coat. Konan resisted the violent urge to shake the hand off.  
  
She turned her head and met Karin’s stark black eyes.  
  
“...?”  
  
Karin gave a crooked little smile. “You don’t remember, uh? We met the other day”.  
  
Konan remembered indeed but had no intention of telling her. “Ah, yes...”  
  
“There’s room here”, Karin told her, motioning to her row. Next to her, Suigetsu waved to Konan. Jugo was looking at his phone. She didn’t recognize the dark-haired boy sitting between Suigetsu and Jugo.  
  
“I’m looking for Mangetsu”, Konan stated.  
  
“We’re much nicer, you know”, Suigetsu commented aloud.  
  
“He’s saving me a seat”, Konan replied, amused. Karin arched her eyebrows.  
  
“Really?”  
  
  
“ _Konan!_ ” called someone two rows ahead. Mangetsu was scrambling to get his friend’s attention, unfazed by the people looking at him and laughing. “This way!”  
  
 _I hoped I wouldn’t have everyone’s attention on me on the very first day. And instead...  
  
_ “Seems like it”, Konan replied, smiling. Karin shrugged. Suigetsu was shaking his head looking at his brother.  
  
“Clown”, he commented. “See you around, Konan”.  
  
  
The girl hurried to catch up with Mangetsu before he called her again. For some reason he seemed to be glowing, despite the fact that it was only eight o’clock.  
  
She sat down next to him, feeling the eyes of the entire room on her.  
  
 _It’s just my perception. There’s no way everyone is looking at me.  
  
_ “You always have to put on a show, Hozuki” grumbled a boy in the fifth row, sitting right in front of Konan.  
  
“Mind your own business, Zetsu” Mangetsu replied, stopping smiling.  
  
“And you don’t even introduce me to your new friend” insisted Zetsu, turning completely around and looking up at them. “My name is Zetsu” he stated, addressing Konan.  
  
“Konan” she introduced herself with a gesture of her hand. Were his eyes really _yellow_ or were they contact lenses?  
  
“Don’t you have someone else to bother, Otsutsuki- _san_?”  
  
“Don’t push it, Mangetsu”, Zetsu said, shifting his gaze to him. “We’ve got the whole year to fight, I don’t think we should start on the first day”.  
  
  
 _I’m not understanding much_ thought Konan. _At least at Kuregama there was a clear hierarchy. I knew what do, with whom and when. Here everyone seems to know everyone...  
  
  
_ “Do you know each other?” she asked, rather foolishly – it was clear that the answer was _yes_.  
  
“Unfortunately” Mangetsu replied dryly.  
  
Zetsu chuckled. “We’re classmates” he replied. “Although I would pay any amount not to be in the same class as him” he added calmly.  
  
“Makes two of us” hissed the Hozuki. Then he looked like he remembered something and turned to Konan. “Speaking of classes, do you know where you’re going to be yet?”  
  
“I should theoretically be in fifth B. Sarutobi-sama wasn’t super clear”.  
  
“Old Hiruzen?” interjected Zetsu. “He’s not the one in charge of these things”.  
  
“And who should I have asked?” prodded Konan. She was starting to get impatient, and the boy’s gaze was starting to make her uncomfortable. It was _fixed_.  
  
“To young Sarutobi. Asuma-san” replied Zetsu. “The man with the sideburns, goatee, and big nose who’s playing with— _setting..._ the computer”.  
  
Konan searched around for the man Zetsu was describing to her with a look, and found him sitting at the desk, in front of a computer that didn’t want to connect to the projector.  
  
“He’s the one who handles the logistics”, he said.  
  
“Isn’t there a vice principal?” asked Konan.  
  
“Yes, Senju-sama”, Mangetsu replied. “Though she’s hardly seen here... in four years I’ve seen her twice at most, and always in passing. I think she’s in charge of bureaucracy or something”.  
  
“Impressive that you can _think_ , Hozuki” Zetsu commented sweetly.  
  
“Fuck you” mouthed Mangetsu.  
  
  
“Kids!” Konan recognized Anko Mitarashi. The woman stepped forward to the center of the stage. “Now let’s get started. Try to be quiet” she stated abruptly.  
  
“Very gentle”, Konan murmured softly.  
  
Mangetsu masked a laugh with a cough. “It’s her style”.  
  
“Thank you Anko” said the principal, switching on the microphone. “Good. Thank you Asuma”, he added, barely turning to the man, who merely nodded. “Good morning everyone, boys and girls, and welcome back to Yuusei! We don’t have much time, so I’ll get straight to the point...” Hiruzen squared the audience, which was anything but silent. “... this year in addition to the usual prom...”  
  
  
 _He said_ _“prom”? Is he serious?  
  
_ “Prom?” hissed Konan to Mangetsu. The boy nodded.  
  
  
“... there will also be a winter ball, at the insistent request of the guys from the dance club...”  
  
  
“Ino Yamanaka strikes again”, Mangetsu sulked quietly.  
  
  
“... and I personally think it’s a great way to channel energy and release stress...”  
  
  
“I thought there wasn’t enough time”, someone commented aloud from the back rows. Somebody laughed.  
  
The principal paused and tried to identify the person responsible but Anko beat him to it.  
  
“Uzumaki, do you mind keeping what you think to yourself?”  
  
A blond boy in the last row sagged in his chair.  
  
  
“Thanks for the reminder, Naruto” commented the principal, without losing his amiable tone. “Anyway, this is one of the new things we introduced this year. The other novelty concerns the activities of the clubs. This year there will be the possibility, for those who want to, to compete with the clubs of other schools, of course from the same field. Professor Gai had already given his full support to this initiative, and also our school representatives... Haruno-san e Yamanaka-san... have also expressed great enthusiasm”.  
  
  
“And you’d think they’d let an opportunity like this pass them by” grunted Mangetsu, slumped in his chair.  
  
Konan gave him a questioning look.  
  
“I’ll tell you later”, the boy said.  
  
  
“Fine, that was the news I wanted to tell you. For the details, you’ll have to elaborate with the respective club presidents”. Hiruzen paused for a moment. “I hope this will be an enjoyable year for all of you who have chosen Yuusei to continue your studies. Have a happy start to the year!”  
  
A spontaneous applause broke out; the old principal seemed very well liked, by the pupils as much as by the teachers.  
  
  
“That’s it?” remarked Konan.  
  
“Hiruzen doesn’t like to waste time” replied Zetsu without being asked, standing up like all the rest of the students.  
  
That was the end of the speech. It was time to go to class.  
  
“Shouldn’t he explain more about how everything works...? I know first-years are given a booklet with all the instructions” Konan said, doubtful.  
  
Zetsu scrutinized her with those creepy yellow eyes. “The booklet says everything you need to know” he replied. Konan had no idea what to say to that, but luckily Mangetsu stepped in.  
  
“I would love to hear what you have to say, Otsutsuki, but we have to go now” he blurted out. “Konan, let’s go to Sarutobi while he’s here”. Mangetsu began to walk down the steps, heading at a brisk pace towards the teachers who were lingering and talking between one another. Konan practically had to run after him, leaving Zetsu behind.  
  
 _What a guy_.  
  
  
“Sarutobi-sensei?” Mangetsu had taken command of the operation _let’s ask what Konan’s class is_ , and frankly she didn’t mind letting someone else run things for once in her place. It was a change.  
  
The man, who was chatting with a brunette woman and seemed itching to get out of there, barely turned around.  
  
“Yes?”  
  
“My friend needs to know which class to go to. She has to start fifth”, Mangetsu stated.  
  
Sarutobi looked at the boy, puzzled, then gave a hinting smile. “And your friend can’t speak, Hozuki?”  
  
Mangetsu’s ears reddened. Konan cleared her throat.  
  
“As Hozuki said, I have to start fifth grade but I wasn’t told what class I’m in. I’m Ito Konan” she explained smoothly.  
  
Asuma nodded, disregarding Mangetsu who looked momentarily unable to speak. “Tsunade explained it to me”. Konan fervently hoped that she hadn’t told him _everything_. “Having passed the supplementary exams without any major problems, you have been placed in B”.  
  
“Great!” exlaimed Mangetsu. “We’re in class together”, he explained happily to Konan. She smiled as well.  
  
 _At least a familiar face.  
  
_ Asuma laughed. “I’ll let you walk her to class then, Hozuki. I’ll be on my way, I need to retrieve my register and books from the teacher’s room...”  
  
“No problem!”

*

“What a shitty speech that old Hiruzen gave”, Hidan observed. He and the others had gone out into the garden to smoke as soon as the applause started.  
  
“Why, it was a speech, un?” said Deidara sarcastically. “He put together three words in a line and away”.  
  
“That’s how you craft speeches” murmured Sasori, exhaling smoke from his nostrils.  
  
“He could have tried a little harder!”  
  
“Mah...”  
  
“Mah what, _un_!?” blurted Deidara, unnerved by the red head’s apathy.  
  
Itachi peeled his eyes away from the doorway of the institute to rest them on Deidara. “Do you mind not yelling?”  
  
“I’m not yelling, Uchiha”, the blond replied, much more aggressively than necessary.  
  
Pain sighed. _I need three cigarettes, not one._ He threw the butt on the ground. “Where’s Zetsu? We were supposed to talk about what to do for the club”.  
  
“Mah”, Sasori said again.  
  
“I think I saw him in the auditorium before”, Kakuzu replied. “Then I lost him”.  
  
“Great” said Pain.  
  
“Do we wait for him?” asked Kisame.  
  
“No, we’ll update him later”. _As if he didn’t already know everything_. “You heard Sarutobi. This year the clubs have a chance to compete against each other...”  
  
“You’re not about to say what I think you’re about to say, are you”, Hidan interrupted him.  
  
“... and I feel it might be good to participate”, Pain concluded. In his head, the speech was much, much longer, but Hidan was already raising objections, and the others didn’t seem too convinced either.  
  
“... participate...?” repeated Deidara, his eyebrows arched.  
  
“Nakasaki, ours isn’t even a _club_!” exclaimed Hidan, stomping out the cigarette under his shoe. “We’ve never officially introduced it and we’ve never sought new members! The school board _barely_ recognized us as an official club!”  
  
“I agree with Hidan though it irks me...” commented Kakuzu. “I doubt our application will be taken seriously. In case we do apply, of course”. He looked at Pain. “Where did you get this idea?”  
  
“I spoke with Shisui this morning”, Itachi interjected. “Sarutobi-sama didn’t say everything, probably because it’s not official news yet...”  
  
“If it’s not official maybe you should wait to tell people about it, Uchiha” hissed Deidara.  
  
“It won’t be official until after the first school assembly, _Yamanaka_ ” replied Itachi, calmly. “That’s when it’ll be. It’s something already approved by the school board. By the way... there will be prizes for the top ranked clubs”.  
  
“Cash prizes?!” asked Kakuzu.  
  
“Shisui was vague”, Itachi murmured. “He told me we’ll find out soon enough”.  
  
“That’s vague too” muttered Kakuzu scratching his chin. His green eyes shone brightly though, interested.  
  
 _Maybe I have an ally.  
  
_ “It’s all very shady, un” snapped Deidara. “A little too much to be taken seriously”.  
  
“Just because it’s hazy doesn’t mean it can’t be right, Deidara” countered Kisame, annoyed.  
  
“Stop defending the _nothing_ , _un_!”  
  
“I don’t give a shit about participating if we don’t win anything”, Hidan interjected. He looked – strangely – thoughtful. “But if one does win something... except they’ll never let us compete, as a matter of principle. Those dickheads hate us”.  
  
“One thing at a time”, Pain said. “For now, potentially... would joining be okay with everyone?” he looked at them one by one.  
  
“I would” said Itachi.  
  
Kisame made a nod. “It would be better if we won something, like Hidan said... but it would be nice not to be bored for once”.  
  
“I only join if something is won” commented Hidan, who was staring at Itachi. “So this information better be right”.  
  
“It’s not up to me”, Itachi shrugged.  
  
“Un. Doesn’t seem like a sensible idea to me”, Deidara mumbled, “but yeah. I’m in too”.  
  
“Mah”. Sasori grimaced. “If we really have to...”  
  
“I’m in” said Kakuzu. “Although jumping in like this with no guarantees...”  
  
“I know, Kakuzu” sighed Pain. “But like I said: it’s an idea. Let’s wait for more clear news and then we’ll talk”.  
  
  
“Talk about what?” Zetsu was walking down the stairs, silent and beaming. “It’s time to go to class, you know”.  
  
“Where the fuck were you?” asked Hidan. The boys interrupted their conversation to follow Zetsu inside the school. They headed for their classroom, the last door on the left at the end of the second floor.  
  
“I wandered around”, Zetsu replied. “There’s a new girl, apparently”.  
  
 _A new girl? What?  
  
_ “What?” said Pain. “A new one?”  
  
They had arrived in front of the classroom. Hidan slammed the door open without knocking. Pain wanted to hit him, wanting to hear Zetsu’s answer.  
  
  
“Morning!”  
  
“Shiroi... thank you for bothering to show up”, Asuma commented sarcastically. “Ah, but you’re not alone... the whole gang is here! Well, well. Make yourselves at home, then”, he continued.  
  
The boys made their way inside, clustering in the desks at the back.  
  
“We’re off to a good start”, Asuma said again. “Fifteen minutes late...”  
  
“Bummer” muttered Hidan.  
  
Asuma pretended not to hear him. He gave a head nod.  
  
“Well Ito, now that everyone’s here I’d say you can come and introduce yourself”.  
  
  
Pain had seen her as soon as he walked in: sitting in the front row was the girl he had noticed the day before at Kiri. She had blue hair loose over her shoulders, a charcoal gray sweatshirt that contrasted with their bright color, and a pair of black jeans.  
  
She had a piercing on her lower lip. It was a pretty detail on her pristine face.  
  
  
“Do I have to?” asked Konan.  
  
Her desk neighbor elbowed her and hissed something.  
  
“Whatever Hozuki told you... the answer is still yes” Asuma said, seemingly amused.  
  
 _Hozuki._ _Kisame’s cousin_.  
  
The girl stood up with a sigh that she didn’t bother to hide and went to the blackboard. She gripped the chalk for a few moments.  
  
“If you want to suggest her something, Hozuki, now is the time” laughed Asuma. “You don’t remember your name, perhaps?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me posting at a quarter to one because I hope to surprise you vs. my sleep-wake cycle crying; the challenge.  
> The chapters are already getting longer and the changes of viewpoints multiply. I hope they don't come across as too confusing.  
> Thank you for commenting, leaving kudos and bookmarking this!


	5. Chapter 5

_First name, last name. Last name, first name.  
  
_ Konan slowly wrote _Ito_ and then _Konan_ , each line being added more tentatively than the previous one.  
  
 _I’m not even sure of my own name_. On the inside, she sighed heavily. She turned to face the class.  
  
“Are you sure it’s correct? Do you want a few minutes to think about it?” mocked Asuma.  
  
Konan looked at him, expressionless. _Does he think he’s funny?_ “No, this is it, in theory” she said in response, with a small shrug of her shoulders only added to emphasize how little she cared about the whole situation.  
  
Asuma frowned but said nothing else about it. “Go ahead”.  
  
Konan stared at the man. _Really?  
  
_ “Eh honey, we’ve all been there”, Hidan commented loudly from the back of the classroom.  
  
 _Honey...?  
  
_ Someone slapped the back of Hidan’s head, presumably the guy sitting behind him – Konan didn’t know his name, but he was the guy with the piercings and orange hair from the other day. He wasn’t smiling even now, in fact, he looked annoyed.  
  
“My name is Ito Konan. I attended Kuregama until my fourth year, after which I asked to be transferred here”. He hesitated. _What else should I say? My hobbies? The fuck I give about everyone here?_ “I’m seventeen years old and I live in Shinagawa”. She could stop there, she supposed. She didn’t know what else to add.  
  
“Fine Ito, go on sit down”, the professor said. “Shiroi, I appreciate the thought you had towards your fellow classmate but in the future avoid intervening if no one asks you”.  
  
“Yeaaaah...” huffed Hidan.  
  
  
“Another one done”, Mangetsu murmured when Konan had sat down. She faintly smiled.  
  
“Yes”.  
  
“Sarutobi enjoys doing these things. The other teachers will leave you alone”.  
  
 _I don’t know what’s better honestly. Whether to be ignored or to be showered with a thousand questions.  
  
_ “Who will we have next?” asked Konan. Not knowing _anything_ bothered her, but even more so being forced to rely on someone else. _If I didn’t have Mangetsu it would be worse_.  
  
“The first day we could have literally anyone”, Mangetsu replied.  
  
“Don’t we have any class...?” _Last year at this time I was already taking notes.  
  
_ “From tomorrow, yes. Today the teachers just introduce the whole schedule, and in the afternoon we have club selections”.  
  
 _Right. Clubs.  
  
_ “They actually make a selection?”  
  
Mangetsu stared at her. “I’d like to know what you’ve been doing these four years at your old school... you don’t know anything!”  
  
  
“Hozuki and Ito. Are you going to let us in on this, or are you going to postpone the conversation until after I explain the program?” Asuma glared at the two teens in the front row.  
  
“We’ll postpone, prof” Mangetsu replied, impishly.  
  
“We started right off with the snarkiness, it seems. Between you and Shiroi... Otsutsuki, do you have anything to say while we’re at it?”  
  
“No sir, not for now” Zetsu replied smoothly.  
  
“Thank God” commented Sarutobi.  
  
  
The relationship between the professor and the rest of the class was strained. It was easy to tell.  
  
 _I don’t think I’ve ever heard someone address a teacher this way at Kuregama.  
  
_ She had to trust her aunt and uncle’s judgment regarding changing schools, because she simply didn’t have the strength to think about that as well. Not that anyone had asked her anything, really. From one day to the next, uncle Seiji had informed her of her enrolment at Yuusei, without asking her what she thought about it. Konan could understand why: it was easier that way, without confrontation at all. Not that figuring things out had ever made her feel any better.  
  
  
The sound of the school bell caught her by surprise and interrupted her thoughts. Before Sarutobi could even leave the classroom, Mangetsu had jumped up to stretch.  
  
“You spoil the view, Hozuki”, mockingly commented the girl sitting behind Konan.  
  
“Kind as always, Hana-chan”, Mangetsu replied curtly. “Did one of your rabid strays bite you?”  
  
Hana rolled her black eyes and rocked back in her chair, crossing her arms behind her neck.  
  
“Do you talk like that to Samui-chan, too, or is that just my privilege?”  
  
Mangetsu blushed violently. Konan slipped a smile that didn’t go unnoticed.  
  
“Your friend seems to already know the answer” commented Hana. “Ito Konan, right? You have some really cool hair” added the girl.  
  
“Thanks” replied Konan. _She doesn’t look bad._ Hana inspired her sympathy, with those red tattoos on her face and the tomboy look. _If I liked her, she could become a problem, as well as not.  
  
_ “Why specifically on the face?” asked Konan, mentioning the red marks on Hana’s cheeks.  
  
“It’s a family tradition. All the Inuzuka have them” replied Hana.  
  
“It’s the _mark of the infected_ ” hissed Mangetsu theatrically.  
  
“Infected?” repeated Zetsu, who had somehow approached them without anyone noticing. “Are you talking about yourself in third person, Hozuki?”  
  
“You want some beating?” growled Mangetsu. Hana rolled her eyes again and looked at Konan.  
  
“I’m going to get some coffee. Wanna come with me? Let’s leave the kids here to beat up each other”.  
  
Konan nodded and stood up. “Absolutely”.  
  
“HEY!” blurted Mangetsu.  
  
Konan walked out of the classroom throwing him a smile.  
  
 _Sorry ‘getsu but I can’t rely only on you._

  
  


*

  
  


“So you’re new”, Hana said, pressing buttons on the keypad of the vending machine. “What did Mangetsu tell you?”  
  
“About school?”  
  
Hana nodded.  
  
 _Nothing. Just fucking nothing._ “Something”.  
  
Hana chuckled. “You sound like Samui. She’s my desk mate”, she added when she noticed Konan’s vacant stare, “she didn’t come today but you’ll see her tomorrow. She always skips the first day because she finds it useless. I don’t blame her”.  
  
“If I had known I could skip it...”  
  
“It wouldn’t have been convenient for you”, Hana commented. “You’re new, aren’t you?”  
  
Konan shrugged. “What difference does it make? There’s not even class today, apparently”.  
  
“That’s true, but there are selections for clubs. Hard to get in if no one knows you”.  
  
“Mangetsu told me about the clubs”, Konan murmured, “but I don’t really know what it’s all about. At my old school they didn’t have them”.  
  
Hana gawked at her. “Are you serious?”  
  
Konan nodded. _Very serious.  
  
_ “Well, after the lunch break there will be the _official_ presentation, kind of”. Hana had punctuated ‘official’ with her fingers. “Not too bad, at least you can get an idea of what to do in the afternoon”.  
  
“I see”. _She doesn’t talk much either._ “Are you in a club too?”  
  
Hana’s eyes twinkled and Konan sensed she’d found a good topic of conversation. “Of course! Well, it’s not really a full-fledged club... and to join I had to talk to Yuhi-sensei several times because no other teacher would listen to me...” She ran a hand over the back of her head, with a tentative smile. “I volunteer at a kennel nearby”.  
  
“Sounds like a wonderful project”, Konan commented. Hana grinned.  
  
“It is! My brother signed up too. Anyway, we’re always accepting new people, if you’re interested!” she added, enthusiastically.  
  
 _A chance to be out of the house doing something concrete and useful? Well why not?  
  
_ “I’ll think about it”, Konan said. For her part, that topic was closed. _I should ask her about the freshman booklet._ “Listen...” _What do I tell her?_ Just before, Zetsu had cut it short when Konan had asked about that booklet. _But the problem in that case which was? Zetsu or my question?_ She chose to be honest, again. At least partially. “Before I changed schools, I went to talk to the principal. He told me he would get me the booklet with all the information about the school, which is usually given to first-year starters. I think he forgot though, because I never got anything...”  
  
Hana just made “Pfff”. It wasn’t particularly encouraging, so Konan instead of asking Hana for the booklet directly decided to at least ask her who she should ask to get it.  
  
“Who do I have to ask to get it, according to you?”  
  
“Mmmmh... try asking Yuhi-sensei. She doesn’t do paperwork or bureaucracy, and she’s not even our coordinator... but she’s one of the few teachers who’ll listen to you when you need something”, Hana explained.  
  
 _She’s not bad. Not bad at all.  
  
_ Konan nodded, smiling sincerely. “Thank you. I will”.

  
  


*

  
  


“You could have done without hitting me!” Hidan turned to Pain when Asuma had exited the classroom.  
  
“You could have done without talking”, Pain replied. _You and your shitty comments.  
  
_ “You’re all always picking on me” muttered the albino, vaguely offended.  
  
“That’s because there’s always a reason for it, un” remarked Deidara, sitting next to him.  
  
“Fucking assholes”.  
  
Pain ignored Hidan and shifted his gaze to the front row, looking for the new girl’s blue hair, without finding it. She must have exited the classroom. Of course Zetsu, who had reached Mangetsu to fight with him (one of his favorite pastimes), was already watching him: nothing could really escape his eyes. Sometimes Pain wondered if he had befriended him just so he wouldn’t have to consider him an _enemy_.  
  
“There are still several people missing”, Sasori observed. “Even Tsurugi”.  
  
Pain grimaced. “Better that way. I couldn’t take him at all now”. He brushed his temple. The headache he’d woken up with was starting to subside, and with a little luck by the end of the day’s classes there would be no sign of it.  
  
Sasori gave a mocking smile. “So Kisame was right, you did get _hammered_ yesterday”.  
  
“Who got wasted yesterday?!” exclaimed Deidara, turning abruptly.  
  
“I just have a headache” Pain replied impassively.  
  
“I just have a headache~” mocked Hidan to him.  
  
 _But fuck._ Pain huffed. “I’m serious”.  
  
“Next time you guys have a party, invite us, un” whined Deidara. “Now I feel left out”.  
  
“Oh no, Dei-dei” cackled Zetsu, returning to sit next to Pain. “Left out of what?”  
  
“Never mind, please” asserted Pain. “Rather, Zetsu... as for this year’s club competition...”  
  
“Yes?”  
  
“We decided... or rather thought... that we could join in”.  
  
Zetsu lowered his golden eyes to the desk in front of him. “I see”. Then he went back to staring Pain straight in the eye. “And how do you think we might join in?”  
  
Pain pondered. He had thought about it – he was NOT the type not to plan in advance, that was something he left to Hidan – but once again he would have to rely on luck and listen to the opinions of others. The most “randomness” (after all, he could very well predict their reactions, up to a point) he could come up with was that.  
  
“I have something in mind”, Pain began slowly. _I need to think more about it and come up with some valid alternatives in case my idea doesn’t work out. I certainly can’t answer him now.  
  
_ “Well, that sounds like a good start” commented Zetsu.  
  
 _He’s also being sarcastic.  
  
_ “We’ll all talk about it together in the afternoon” cut Pain short.  
  
  
“Good morning everyone!” Karui entered the classroom along with Fuu.  
  
“About time!” exclaimed Mangetsu, throwing them a sincere smile despite the mocking tone.  
  
“Mangetsu!” Fuu launched herself towards her friend, glad to see him, jumped over Konan’s empty chair and threw herself at him laughing. Karui shook her head at her friend’s exuberance but didn’t suppress a smile.  
  
“Hayasa-chan” greeted Kisame from the front row.  
  
“Hoshigaki-kun” replied Karui. And of course next to the boy was... “Uchiha”.  
  
Itachi looked up from his phone and planted his eyes on the girl.  
  
“Hayasa” he only said. Coming from him was already more than enough.  
  
  
Pain watched the scene from the back row. He wasn’t particularly familiar with either of them: in fact, he’d antagonized Karui in his first year when he’d convinced Kisame to quit the judo club and join Akatsuki, which at the time had only Pain and Sasori as members. A minimum of five members was needed to gain official “club” status, so he hadn’t had many qualms about it. As soon as he had sensed Kisame’s dissatisfaction, who would have preferred to relax or train in fencing instead of fighting with kids infinitely inferior in both strength and technique, he had approached him and had proposed bluntly to join them.  
  
Fuu on the other hand had nothing personal against him and they had an almost friendly relationship. But Fuu was friendly with everyone, so it was hard to tell how genuine she was... and Pain didn’t want to risk it, especially given the girl’s explosive nature.  
  
  
“Oi Mangetsu-kun, who’s sitting here?!” asked Fuu, who hadn’t stopped fidgeting for even a second. He reached for Konan’s backpack, grabbing it and turning it over.  
  
“Kumori, what did you eat this morning? Lithium batteries?” asked Hidan.  
  
“Ah-ah-ah, Hidan! Would you like to know, eh?”  
  
“No, I wouldn’t” replied the boy, feigning disgust.  
  
Fuu stuck his tongue out at him.  
  
  
“Well good morning”. Hana and Konan re-entered the classroom at that moment. Fuu was still holding Konan’s backpack in her hands.  
  
Karui, who had meanwhile gone to her seat and settled down, looked at the newcomers.  
  
“Oi Hana”, she greeted. Then she looked at Konan.  
  
“Who are you?!” inquired Fuu.  
  
Konan pointed to her backpack with her hand and made something with her mouth that resembled a smile but it didn’t reach her eyes. “The owner of that one”.  
  
Fuu dropped to the ground immediately, raising her hands in apology. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to pry on you! I was just curious!”  
  
“Contradictory, Fuu-chan” commented Zetsu from the back of the classroom, distracted from his conversation with Pain. His voice seemed to be able to reach any area of the room, regardless of his position.  
  
“I learned from you, Zetsu-kun!”  
  
Pain smiled to himself.  
  
Mangetsu pretended to puke, very loudly.  
  
  
“Hozuki, are you okay? Do you need to go to the infirmary?” Professor Yuhi walked in just then.  
  
Mangetsu shook his head, trying not to laugh. Next to him, Konan was trying to control her expression.  
  
“Very well. Good morning everyone”, the woman greeted them warmly. She placed her bag on the desk and sat down, glancing at the logbook. “Ito?”  
  
Pain raised his head sharply, as if the one called was him. Zetsu arched his eyebrows, surprised by his reaction.  
  
“It’s me, professor”. Konan raised her hand to call the woman’s attention. “I’m new”.  
  
“I see. In fact, you don’t feature in my logbook” she commented, pulling out the aforementioned and scribbling something on it – probably the girl’s first and last name,

  
  


*

  
  


_Please don’t let her call me. I’ve had enough of introductions and it’s only the second hour...  
  
_ “I told you she’ll leave you alone” whispered Mangetsu. “Stop fussing, you’re making even me who’s been here for five years anxious”.  
  
“Sorry about that” grumbled Konan.  
  
“Yuhi-sensei!” yelled the girl who had been handling her backpack just moments before. She had no idea what her name was, but her short light green bob hair, orange eyes and latte complexion guaranteed she wouldn’t forget her anytime soon. Not by sight. “Yuhi-sensei, since we have a new classmate, can we have a round of introductions?!”  
  
“What a piece of shit idea Kumori” growled Hidan. She could totally recognize him now, thanks to her feet.  
  
“Are we all back to kindergarten?” mumbled the red head sitting in the back row.  
  
“You guys are boring!” exclaimed Fuu.  
  
“I think that’s a good idea, Kumori. Why don’t you start it?” proposed Kurenai. “Set a good example for Shiroi and Akasuna”.  
  
“With pleasure!” replied Fuu, jumping to her feet.  
  
“Go figure... the good _example_...” commented Sasori, running a hand over his face. Hidan had crossed his arms and assumed a murderous expression.  
  
The teacher pretended not to have heard anything.  
  
  
 _There are still people missing, by the way..._ observed Konan looking at the empty desks. She counted five of them.  
  
“My name is Kumori Fuu, I’m seventeen years old and I moved here to Tokyo from Ogasawara!”  
  
 _Wow. It’s so far away._ Konan remembered being there with her parents as a child. She remembered the majesty of the sea at night, the starry sky above her head and the blue – just _blue_ – all around.  
  
Kurenai laughed as Fuu returned to sitting down. “I see gladly that your energy is always _high_ , Kumori. Summer break does more harm than good”, she joked.  
  
 _I might like this teacher,_ Konan thought. She had a couple of teachers like that at Kuregama, and she had gotten along great with them. _They were also the only ones who stood up for me, by the way.  
  
_ “Shiroi, I’d like you to say something now” Kurenai then added, calmly.  
  
Hidan threw her a dirty look. “This is bullshit”, he affirmed. “And I don’t want to do it”.  
  
The woman’s face darkened. She ran a hand through her jet-black hair. “Are we starting now, Shiroi? It’s only the first day”.  
  
“First day or not, it’s bullshit”, Hidan repeated.  
  
Kakuzu – Konan also remembered his name – had an undecipherable expression plastered on his face. He didn’t seem to want to stop his friend from stirring up trouble, though.  
  
“Excuse me, may I...?” asked the blond boy to Hidan’s left.  
  
Kurenai sighed. “That’s fine, Yamanaka. Shiroi...” she laid her scarlet eyes on the albino boy, who also refused to meet her gaze by keeping it fixed on his own desk. “... you can’t always do what you want. You’ll be the last to introduce yourself, if you prefer, but _you’ll introduce yourself_ ”.  
  
Hidan made a dismissive sound.  
  
  
“Is that normal too, or...?”  
  
“Normal as hell”, Mangetsu replied. “Pure routine”.  
  
Konan was beginning to feel like an alien who landed on Earth the day before yesterday. Even in elementary school people weren’t allowed to act like this. _Not in the ones I attended, at least.  
  
_ “Anyway”, Konan pretended to pout, “I’ll have to introduce myself again. What did you say? _Stop fidgeting_ ”. She was joking (kinda, she was a little serious) but she still got the effect she wanted because Mangetsu frowned and grimaced.  
  
“You can thank Kumori, what does that have to do with me...”  
  
“Yamanaka, sit down for now. I’d like Hozuki to introduce himself instead, who seems to be eager to talk. No?” The teacher was looking at them, impatient.  
  
“Can I stay seated, prof?” asked Mangetsu.  
  
“Heavy ass” commented Karui from behind. Konan barely held back a laugh.  
  
“Hozuki...” began the Yuhi.  
  
“I mean, Ito is sitting next to me and only her doesn’t know me”. He gave a lopsided smile because that wasn’t exactly true. “What’s the point of me getting up? I’m in class with...” Mangetsu gestured toward the class, “... them... for five years”.  
  
 _He played it well, I must admit.  
  
_ “Well, Hozuki. I don’t know how to retort in front of such a convincing statement”, the teacher said, a little wry and a little amused. “Go ahead”.  
  
“Okay. So... my name is Hozuki Mangetsu, I’m eighteen years old and I live in Shinagawa”.  
  
“Tell me something I don’t know” Konan mumbled softly, so that only he could hear her.  
  
“Fine Hozuki. Yamanaka, you feeling like talking...?”  
  
“I’m over it, un” replied the blond boy from before sweetly.  
  
The read head behind stood up, absolutely bored with the whole situation. He met Konan’s eyes. “My name is Akasuna Sasori. I’m eighteen years old”. He sat back down. It was obvious that he had introduced himself to avoid the same dramatics that had happened with Hidan earlier.  
  
  
Kurenai Yuhi sighed. “At least the name, guys”. She looked around the class, resigned to the insubordination that hovered.  
  
“Yamanaka Deidara, un”.  
  
“Taki Kakuzu”.  
  
“Shiroi Hidan”.  
  
“Otsutsuki Zetsu. But we already know each other, don’t we?” said Zetsu, winking at Konan.  
  
 _What’s wrong with this guy?  
  
_ “Hoshigaki Kisame”. It was the gigantic guy in the front row who had spoken. At a rough guess, he looked two meters tall.  
  
“Uchiha Itachi”.  
  
“Inuzuka Hana”. The girl smiled at her.  
  
“Hayasa Karui”.  
  
  
The only who hadn’t spoken yet was the boy with orange hair and a face full of piercings. Konan kept glancing at him, even when the others were talking.  
  
 _Now at least I have a valid excuse to look at him.  
  
_ “Nakasaki Pain. I’m eighteen years old”.  
  
 _Pain...?  
  
_ “Yahiko. We’ve talked about this. I’m not changing the name on the logbook”.  
  
“You should” commented Pain/Yahiko. “I won’t answer to any other names”.  
 _  
If he prefers to be called Pain, I’ll call him that. We have something in common, it seems...  
  
_ “Yahiko...”  
  
“ _Pain_ ” reiterated the boy. Serious and calm at the same time, he was staring the teacher in the eyes without blinking.  
  
Konan leaned towards Mangetsu. “If you tell me this is normal too...”  
  
Mangetsu laughed loudly, interrupting the silent challenge between the boy and the teacher. “You’ll get used to it soon enough”.

  
  


*

  
  


The only thing identical in every way to Kuregama, from the confusion to the general organization, was the cafeteria.  
  
Konan hated cafeterias with all her heart. “Where do we sit...?”  
  
“Ah, it’s not our choice...” chuckled Mangetsu.  
  
  
“Konnie! ‘getsu!” Tayuya was sitting with Kidomaru and the others, and she was scrambling to get their attention.  
  
“You always have to put on a show” grumbled Kimimaro, sitting despite himself next to her. Tayuya didn’t bother to answer him but the girl seated next to her – whom Konan had never seen – leaned over to glare at him.  
  
“Shut up, Kaguya”.  
  
“Guys, I didn’t escape one fight to find myself involved in another. Stay calm”, Mangetsu exclaimed. He and Konan sat down in the two remaining seats at the table.  
  
Konan faced Kidomaru, who gave her a kind smile. “How’s the first day going?”  
  
“Mmmh... it’s all weird”, the girl answered candidly.  
  
“Weird how?”  
  
“She means”, Kimimaro butted in, “that it’s a _public_ school and she’s not used to _normal_ treatment”.  
  
  
 _What?_ Konan’s eyes widened, speechless. She had caught something in Kimimaro’s attitude when she had mentioned that she had attended a private school – but that was a completely unjustified attack. Entirely for its own sake.  
  
Kidomaru had turned to look at Kimimaro, as had the rest of the guys sitting with them. They had all heard what Kaguya had said.  
  
“Kimimaro...” said Kidomaru bewildered.  
  
 _He of all people can get an idea of what I’m NOT,_ Konan thought. _He’s seen where I live. And more than him...  
  
  
_ “Excuse me Kaguya, but what do you mean by that?!” snapped Mangetsu.  
  
“Do I have to repeat myself, Hozuki?” Kimimaro glared at him. Sakon, sitting next to Kimimaro, tried to put a hand on his arm but the boy shrugged it off.  
  
“Hands off, Yoshida...”  
  
“Keep your _boyfriend_ at bay, Yudo” growled Mangetsu.  
  
  
Konan felt the atmosphere grow tense around her. She was aware of it but couldn’t get a word in edgewise. The boy’s comment had brought her back to where she started, the same point she had been trying to get away from all summer.  
  
 _No matter how hard I try to remove everything, there will always be something that comes back up. Always. Spontaneously or not.  
  
_ She could see Yakumo-chan as if she were standing in front of her in flesh and blood. She was shaking her head in disdain, her hazel eyes shining with a strange light.  
  
  
 _“You’re useless, Ameno. A burden. You can’t even stand up for anything when I ask you to. Can it be that you care so little for our friendship?”  
  
  
_ That had been the beginning of the end.  
  
“That’s a pretty shitty comment from you, Kaguya-san”, Konan finally said, halting the fight that seemed about to break out. At least judging by the tension in Mangetsu’s jaw.  
  
Kimimaro scowled at her. The girl sitting next to Tayuya burst out laughing loudly.  
  
“She’s right”, she remarked. “At least at lunchtime you could control yourself”. She cast her black eyes on Konan. “Excuse him, please. He’s not so bad, really”.  
  
 _I’ve heard that before_. “I hope you don’t have any problems with me, Kaguya-san”, Konan said. “I don’t want to have any with you”.  
  
Kimimaro hadn’t looked away from her for a second. There was still hostility in his emerald eyes. _I don’t like this at all.  
  
_ “It’s okay”, Kidomaru chimed in.  
  
“No, it’s _not okay_ ” snarled the white-haired boy.  
  
“Kimi, you’re really taking this too far...” mumbled Tayuya, uncomfortable.  
  
Mangetsu peeked at Konan’s expression out of the corner of his eye. She hadn’t said anything before and he had jumped to defend her by seeing how unresponsive she was. Now, however, she seemed to have recovered from her moment of stupor.  
  
“I hate Kuregama”, Kimimaro suddenly stated, ignoring Sakon’s babbling. “And I hate everyone who attends it. They’re just stuck-up assholes with too much money to know what to do with it”.  
  
“That makes two of us”.  
  
“...?!”  
  
Konan shrugged at the boy’s disbelief. “Why do you think I changed schools?”  
  
  
“What are you talking about?”  
  
 _From good to better_. Karin, Suigetsu and Jugo had reached their table, where the tension was still palpable.  
  
“Nothing” Mangetsu replied, grumpily.  
  
“Where did you left Sasuke- _chan_? At the circus?” Kin icily squared Karin.  
  
“You’re the expert in _clownin’ around_ , Tsuchi. Where are Abumi and Kinuta?” the red head replied sharply.  
  
“Keep her at bay, ‘getsu”. Tayuya glared at the girl, cracking her knuckles audibly.  
  
“Looks to me like your friend started it, Tayu”, Suigetsu commented lazily. “She’s the one who needs to calm down”.  
  
Kin reddened.  
  
“Oi, Kaguya... are you okay?” Jugo had noticed Kimimaro’s livid face but the white-haired boy cut it short: “Just fabulous”. He dodged Kidomaru’s arm, picked up the now-empty tray and went to leave it in the designated cart, after which he marched out of the cafeteria.  
  
Sakon and Kidomaru sighed in unison.  
  
“Did I say something wrong...?”  
  
“You’ve hardly said anything”, Karin commented. “He must be pissed about something else”.  
  
 _That’s right. Apparently, because of me.  
  
_ “Don’t worry about it, Tenbi. He was like that even before you came along”. Kidomaru reassured Jugo. Then he spoke to Konan. “Do you smoke?”  
  
 _Not really, no.  
  
_ “When it’s offered”, she joked.  
  
“Kido, we’re now going to get seats for the clubs’ presentation”, Sakon warned them. “Come directly to the auditorium when you finish”.  
  
 _... when we finish... what?  
  
_ “I’ll text you”, Kidomaru replied, nodding.  
  
“See you later, ‘getsu”. Konan waved at the Hozuki, silent after his earlier outburst.  
  
“Yeah, yeah”, he commented. “Try not to be late, if you don’t want any scuffles with Morino”.  
  
“I _live_ for scuffles with Morino” replied Kidomaru.

  
  


*

  
  


Once they reached the courtyard in the back, Kidomaru pulled out the tobacco packet.  
  
“I hope you like them handmade. I don’t smoke the crap of industrial cigs”.  
  
“I don’t mind them”. _Utakata spins them himself too,_ she allowed herself to think. _I wonder how he’s doing...  
  
_ “Great”.  
  
They weren’t alone in the small “courtyard” – it was actually more accurate to talk about a parking lot, since the green space was practically non-existent. Just pebbles, concrete and a dozen or so boys and girls busy smoking and chatting. In order to talk in peace, Kidomaru and Konan had stayed by the door, she standing and he leaning against the wall on his back.  
  
“I’m sorry about before”, the boy said. He handed a cigarette and a lighter to Konan.  
  
 _So he wants to do this? Apologize on Kimimaro’s behalf?  
  
_ “Actually... I didn’t quite understand what happened”.  
  
“Well...” Kidomaru faltered, puffing smoke from his nose. “Kimimaro has had several spats the past few years with Kuregama. With Kuregama’s _male_ department, the Sakugawa”.  
  
 _I’ve heard of the Sakugawa...  
  
_ “I know the Sakugawa”, Konan chose her words carefully, “but only by name”.  
  
“You don’t miss anything. Kimi told me certain things...” the boy shook his head, chasing away whatever had come to mind. Konan found herself thinking that _Kimi_ was a pretty cute nickname for a boy like Kaguya. “... anyway yeah, I think he didn’t expect to find someone from Kuregama here too. That’s why he popped off like that”.  
  
“...”  
  
“He has nothing personal against you”, Kidomaru added.  
  
 _Not knowing me at all, it would be strange otherwise._ “Thank you for apologizing to me, but...”  
  
“I know it should be up to Kimimaro here”. Kidomaru gave her a crooked smile. “But I know him. When he apologizes it sounds like he’s declaring war. Not to mention that he might come to talk to you the day after tomorrow, as well as in a month. It depends on his ego”.  
  
Konan sketched a smile. “I can imagine”.  
  
The boy smiled back, relieved. A weight seemed to have been lifted from his stomach, judging by his expression. “As soon as you finish your cig we’re going back in, before Sakon comes looking for us...”  
  
“He doesn’t seem like the anxious type...”  
  
“Anxious _and_ aggressive”, Kidomaru muttered.  
  
“Do you want to swap him with Mangetsu? You wouldn’t notice the difference...”  
  
They both erupted in laughter.

  
  


*

  
  


“There they are!” cried Tayuya upon seeing Kidomaru and Konan. She stood up to be seen. “We’re here!”  
  
“Between you sitting and you standing there are probably two inches difference”, Sakon snarkily commented.  
  
The fuchsia-haired girl ignored the comment and continued to jump.  
  
  
The presentation of the clubs would take place in the same auditorium as in the morning. Tayuya and the others (minus Kimimaro, who hadn’t returned yet) had sat in the middle of the bleachers, keeping two seats reserved for Konan and Kidomaru at the far end of the row.  
  
It was Konan who noticed the girl first.  
  
“Come on Tayu, now _sit down_ ”. Sakon roughly pulled her friend down, impatient. “They saw you, eh”.  
  
“Have you worked it out?” asked Mangetsu. Konan and Kidomaru glanced at each other for a moment.  
  
“For me, yes” replied the girl.  
  
“Ditto”.  
  
“Mmmmh” muttered the Hozuki, “good”.  
  
“Who are we waiting for?” asked Konan.  
  
“The school representatives, in theory”. Kin was looking at the empty stage. “It’s still ten minutes before it starts, though”.  
  
“I like to be _punctual_ ” Sakon remarked, annoyed.  
  
“Ten minutes is a bit much”, Kidomaru commented. He was grinning though, so the chances that he was poking him on purpose were high.  
  
“But if it’s already filling up...” mumbled Sakon.  
  
Indeed, the room was starting to fill up; groups of students were entering and spreading out along the rows of the auditorium, chatting out loud more or less.  
  
“ _Filling up_ is a big word”. The speaker was a young man sitting behind them. He had a mass of tousled black hair shot upward, thinly cut dark eyes and a mocking grin etched on his face.  
  
“Zaku-kun!” cried Kin, smiling at him. “Where’s Dosu?”  
  
“He said he’ll only come when the representatives are here”. Zaku returned her friend’s smile, softening.  
  
“Typical...” commented Tayuya, shaking her head.  
  
  
“Who are the representatives, Yoshida-san?” Konan could have asked literally anyone else, however, she had noticed the flinch the boy had made when Kin had turned all happy toward Zaku.  
  
 _They talked about it yesterday. Sakon likes Kin but he’s not moving forward.  
  
_ Sakon stared at her a little weirded out. “It’s fine just Sakon, you don’t need to use _san_... anyway, there are two official representatives, Haruno Sakura and Yamanaka Ino, plus the three who got the most votes after them: Hyuuga Neji, Kumori Fuu and Uchiha Sasuke. They’re not exactly official, so to speak, but they help out and are a convenient backup...”.  
  
“Especially if you don’t necessarily want to talk to those two”, Tayuya mumbled.  
  
 _I’m in Kumori-san’s class... and I saw Haruno and Yamanaka on Sunday in 104. I miss Hyuuga and Uchiha.  
  
_ Knowing three out of five of them wasn’t bad.  
  
“You remember Haruno and Yamanaka, don’t you?” asked Mangetsu.  
  
“Yes”.  
  
“Fuu-chan is in our class, I bet you remember her too”. Hozuki laughed. “The one with the green hair. Hyuuga and Uchiha on the other hand—”  
  
“Wait a minute”, Konan was reminded of something she had heard in class, “isn’t there an Uchiha Itachi in class with us?”  
  
  
“Nothing gets by you, flower!”  
  
Konan met the gaze of Hidan, who was coming down the central corridor of the auditorium and had evidently heard her last statement.  
  
“Would you mind your own fucking business, Shiroi?”  
  
Hidan gave Mangetsu a rude gesture and continued down the steps, joining his cronies three rows ahead.  
  
“Why are you picking a fight with Shiroi, ‘getsu”. Kidomaru gave him a slap on the head. “Didn’t you get enough yesterday at Kiri?”  
  
“He’s unbearable!”  
  
“You’re telling me”.  
  
“I sure hope you’re not talking about _me_ ”. Zetsu sailed behind Hidan, taking the steps two by two and blowing a kiss in Mangetsu’s direction.  
  
“We were mainly talking about you!” blurted Hozuki in his general direction.

*

“You just can’t help but poke him, un”. Deidara looked at Zetsu, who shrugged.  
  
“He amuses me too much”. He ran a hand over his white jeans. “Besides, why don’t you say anything to Hidan? He’s worse than me”.  
  
“Hidan is in a category of its own” Kakuzu asserted, fending off a punch from the boy called into question. “Oh, looks like they’re about to start. Hyuuga has arrived as well”.  
  
“Hyuuga’s probably been here since lunch break, un” mumbled Deidara with disdain. “Ass-kisser”.  
  
“There really is a lot of spite under all that wonderful hair” said Zetsu.  
  
“Don’t start with that bullshit, un!”  
  
  
“Where’s Sasuke?” Kisame leaned slightly toward Itachi.  
  
“At school”, Itachi replied, cryptically.  
  
“No shit” Deidara commented sarcastically from behind. “Unbelievable”.  
  
  
 _Why are we friends?_ Pain was trying to stay calm but everyone was more turbulent than usual today. Or maybe not, maybe he was the more upset and they were acting perfectly normal... normal for them, that is. _Ah, yes. Because we put up with each other_.  
  
“You look like you could use an aspirin”, Sasori whispered.  
  
“Fuck you”, Pain replied.  
  
  
“A moment of attention, please!” Sakura moved to the center of the stage. “In two minutes we begin”. Neji walked over to say something to her, to which Sakura replied by shaking her pink head. Then she turned back to the classroom: “You’ll find the club lists at the entrance to the classroom, given out by Kumori-san and Uchiha-san, and posted on the bulletin board in the hall”.  
  
  
Itachi sighed. Deidara would have gladly laughed but Sasori kicked him under the chair before he could.  
  
Pain shook his head.  
  
“Why is Haruno using _san_ with your brother, Itachi? I thought they were close enough”, Zetsu observed.  
  
 _He’s in inquisitor mode today. Damn.  
  
_ Itachi could have pretended not to hear, as he often did, ignored the question completely hoping Zetsu wouldn’t repeat it, or simply answered it. Which of these three options would have made Zetsu leave him alone?  
  
“I guess it’s to set a good example for the freshmen”.  
  
Zetsu made a skeptical sound that Itachi chose to ignore.  
  
  
“If we’re all here, I’d say we can start”. Ino was looking at Sakura, but having the microphone in her hand, the phrase had resonated throughout the auditorium.  
  
Sakura nodded. “Alright”.  
  
  
“Ino-chan has a certain... _verve_ ”.  
  
Deidara jerked his head up sharply and stared at Zetsu with his blue eye visible. He had the look of wanting to throw something at him, beyond simple insults.  
  
“Watch your mouth, un” snarled the blond.  
  
“I didn’t say anything”. Zetsu chuckled softly.  
  
  
“Good morning, everyone!” Ino took the floor, her long platinum blonde hair swaying to the rhythm of her steps. She moved to the center of the stage. “As you should know by now...” she scanned the audience, who were silent for the moment, “... every year on the afternoon of the first day of school, the presentation of the various clubs is held by us school representatives. My name is Yamanaka Ino, and my colleague here”, she made a broad gesture with her arm, referring to Sakura, who was standing next to her, “is Haruno Sakura. For more information, please ask Kumori Fuu for a detailed list of clubs...”. Another wide gesture, towards the entrance on the left. “... or to Uchiha Sasuke...”. She moved her arm towards the right entrance.  
  
  
“Inoichi-sama did a great job...”  
  
Deidara clenched his fists with such force that his knuckles whitened.  
  
“Otsutsuki”, Kakuzu called from behind, “shut up”.  
  
 _Zetsu is going too far... if even Taki steps in..._

  
  


*

  
  


“Like anyone would ever approach Sasuke to get flyers” muttered Kin.  
  
“It would be easier to slit his throat” agreed Dosu, who had arrived at the last moment and taken a seat next to Zaku.  
  
Kin smirked. “A bit excessive, neh Kinuta?”  
  
Dosu didn’t answer.  
  
  
“There were no additions this year, so the clubs are the same as last years. For freshmen...” Konan sharpened her ears. “... at Yuusei, there are two types of clubs: sports clubs and cultural clubs. As for the sports clubs...” Ino half turned to Sakura, who started the projector. The blonde cleared her throat. “... we have judo, taekwondo, soccer, volleyball, swimming, athletics and – of course – the _dance_ club, which I run myself”.  
  
Someone from the audience laughed. “Ease up, Yamanaka!”  
  
  
 _She’s so at home...  
  
_ Konan watched Ino with something very similar to admiration. She wished she possessed the same charisma and magnetism that this girl had. She moved on stage, in front of the eyes of the whole school, as if she was born to do exclusively that. The other girl, Sakura, appeared much less confident next to her, by contrast.  
  
  
“For sports clubs, the person in charge is professor Gai”. Ino smiled toward the audience, which prompted the blue-haired girl to imitate her.  
  
 _The professors...?  
  
_ Konan hadn’t noticed it before but the teaching staff – or at least a part of it – had arranged themselves in the last rows. Professor Gai – it had to be him because he was the only teacher who had raised his thumb in the blonde girl’s direction – was a man about six feet tall with a dazzling physique, highlighted by the green tracksuit he was wearing and with the ugliest haircut Konan had ever laid eyes on.  
  
 _I had never seen a worse job.  
  
_ “What happened to his hair?” hissed Konan toward Mangetsu and Kidomaru.  
  
“Hair is the least of the problems, trust me” replied Kidomaru with a smirk.  
  
 _Jesus.  
  
  
_ “On the other hand, as for the cultural clubs, the people in charge are professor Yuhi and professor Umino. We have a music club, art club, photography club, language club, gardening club, sewing club, theatre club and board game club”.  
  
“ _Sewing?_ ” repeated Konan, addressing no one in particular.  
  
Behind her there was a grunt, literally. “Useful and educational”. She didn’t need to turn around to know that the comment had come from Dosu.  
  
“You were the first to sign up last year, Kinuta”, Sakon commented out loud so that everyone could hear him.  
  
“Only because Kin asked me to”, Dosu hastened to reply, blushing slightly. “And no one asked you for an opinion anyway, Yoshida”.  
  
Kin’s ears were flushed but she didn’t open her mouth. Tayuya was elbowing her, laughing softly.  
  
 _  
Poor Sakon...  
  
  
_ “I’ll leave the rest to Sakura for the technical details! Thank you for your attention!” Ino stepped back but somehow it was as if she hadn’t moved at all; she continued to remain the center of general attention, as if she had a spotlight on her.  
  
Sakura spoke in a firm tone. “Membership in a club, whether sports or cultural, is mandatory; you can join a maximum of two clubs, as long as it’s a cultural club and a sports club. It’s not possible to join two sports clubs, or two cultural clubs. The application for membership must be submitted to the presidents of the clubs, and the teachers must be notified once the application has been accepted”. She paused and looked at Ino. “I think that’s it?”  
  
Ino nodded impatiently and Sakura turned back to the audience. “That’s it, guys!”  
  
  
“Gosh, thank you” exhaled Kidomaru.  
  
“That wasn’t _so_ bad, come on Kido” commented Tayuya.  
  
“Is it a little clearer now what you have to do?” asked Mangetsu addressing Konan.  
  
“Mmmmh... enough, yes. I’ll still need a list though...”  
  
“Understood. As soon as we get out we’re going to ask Fuu-chan for one” stated Mangetsu.  
  
“You still have to explain to me the comment you made this morning... _and you’d think they’d let an opportunity like that slip away_ ”. Konan nailed Mangetsu’s imitation.  
  
Kidomaru laughed, then stood up. “Guys, I’m going to catch up with Kimimaro. See you”.  
  
“See you later”, they all greeted in unison.  
  
  
“The comment...? What comment?” Mangetsu looked at her friend, puzzled. Then he seemed to remember something. “Aaaah, yes!”  
  
“What are you two talking about?” Tayuya jumped into the conversation.  
  
“Guys, are we moving? Before they send us away”, Sakon was already up, as were Kin, Dosu and Zaku.  
  
“Yeah, let’s go to the hall in the meantime”, Mangetsu stated. “Basically” he began, getting up to follow his friends, with Konan listening, “Haruno and Yamanaka are the presidents of the judo and dance clubs respectively. Being able to compete with the clubs of the other schools would grant them some visibility and a chance to be noticed by the scouts who normally only show up during sports competitions of a certain level”.  
  
“Well, I don’t see school sports tournaments being exactly _on a certain level_ ”, Konan observed.  
  
“Indeed. That’s why it’s a good opportunity”.  
  
  
As they exited the auditorium they bumped into Fuu at the door, busy handing out lists and beaming smiles left and right.  
  
“Would you like a list too?” asked Fuu.  
  
“Thank you Fuu-chan, yes!” Mangetsu smiled at her. The green-haired girl handed the paper directly to Konan, flashing a sly smile at Mangetsu.  
  
“Here you go!”  
  
“Thank you, Kumori-san”, Konan replied, scrolling the names on the list.  
  
“Just Fuu is fine!” The girl continued to smile, undeterred. “We’re classmates after all, aren’t we?”  
  
“I’d say so”. Konan returned the smile, uncertain.  
  
“And I’ve probably come across as a very rude person who goes through other people’s backpacks, so getting formal just now seems unnecessary”, the green one added.  
  
 _Straightforward and deliberate.  
  
_ “Fuu-chan!” exclaimed the Hozuki, surprised. “Konan doesn’t think that at all”.  
  
“You never know, ‘getsu!” Fuu kept smiling and Konan was beginning to think the girl was verging on facial paresis.  
  
 _Too many smiles all at once.  
  
_ “See you, Fuu-chan!”  
  
“Bye-bye ‘getsu!”  
  
  
They left Fuu at the door and joined the others in the hall, who had spaced them out.  
  
“We always lose you”, Tayuya complained. Then she noticed the paper in Konan’s hand. “Did you find something that interests you?”  
  
“Mmmmh...” _Definitely not. I’d like to be able to take a look at all of them._ “... actually, no. I don’t even know if I should pick a cultural one or a sports one”.  
  
“There are a lot of choices, really”, Tayuya commented.  
  
“Also, I don’t think they mentioned this club before...”  
  
“What club...?” inquired Sakon.  
  
“The _Akatsuki_?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is endless but I'm satisfied with how it came out. Merry Christmas, my little ones.  
> Details:  
> \- Keep an eye out for the issue of the booklet Konan was supposed to have, but doesn't.  
> \- Mangetsu and Zetsu can't tolerate each other, and I'm going to have a lot of fun making them squabble whenever possible.  
> \- In this story, Yahiko goes by the name "Pain." Nagato is a character of his own that will appear later on.  
> \- Kidomaru and Kimimaro are already together. Mangetsu knows what he's talking about lol  
> \- The interactions between all the characters give me strength and joy, I'm not going to stop these little tiny things.  
> \- I've only introduced half of Konan's class, so I really hope you're ready for more minor characters in the anime/manga but major ones in this story. Whops.


	6. Chapter 6

Silence fell.  
  
 _...?_ Konan lowered her gaze again to the paper in her hand.  
  
“Well... that’s not really a club...” said Tayuya, who seemed speechless. Konan looked at her, intrigued.  
  
“Then what is it?”  
  
“A bunch of nutjobs”. Mangetsu broke the tension with a joke. Everyone laughed.  
  
“It fits”, Zaku commented.  
  
 _It certainly doesn’t._ “If it’s not really a club, why did they list it?” insisted Konan. It wasn’t like her to get stubborn, not so openly. She was surprised that she wanted an answer at all costs. On the other hand, so far no one had given her a clear and understandable answer. About anything.  
  
“But of course it’s a club”, Dosu said. “But it’s _also_ a bunch of nuts, like Hozuki said. Weird guys. They don’t accept new members and no one knows what they do”.  
  
 _Another oddity. Mangetsu said I’ll get used to it but...  
  
_ “And the teachers let them?” asked Konan. Everyone except Mangetsu and Dosu shrugged. “How is that possible?”  
  
“You know the guys in our class?” Mangetsu answered his question with another question.  
  
“Yeah, sort of...” Zetsu’s unreadable expression and Hidan’s insufferable slap-face passed before her eyes in quick succession.  
  
“They’re the ones who created the Akatsuki. Nakasaki, Otsutsuki, Akasuna, Yamanaka, Taki, Hoshigaki, Uchiha, and Shiroi. It was born when I was in my first year, and it’s always stayed that way. It’s something that can be done, technically. You just need to reach a sufficient number of participants and be vague about the purpose of the club”. Mangetsu also shrugged his shoulders while grimacing.  
  
“Yeah, but...”  
  
“And then you have met Otsutsuki...”  
  
 _Meeting is a big word.  
  
_ “... not to mention Shiroi. Only a fool would join their club, sight unseen to boot”.  
  
Konan continued to know as much as she did before. _It’s fucking frustrating.  
  
_ “No Akatsuki, then”, Konan said aloud. The expression that Yahiko—that _Pain_ had made when Yuhi had called him by his real name flashed before her eyes. A steely frown, like the color of his eyes. _Why does it come to me now?_ “What are you all signed up for?” Those gray eyes wouldn’t leave her alone.  
  
“I do fencing, but not here. I had it registered as an activity, though”, Mangetsu replied.  
  
“We’re members of the music club” said Tayuya. “And so are Kimimaro e Kidomaru. Regarding sports club... I do track and field. The other two do dance”.  
  
“Mmmmmh...”  
  
“You don’t have to decide right away”. Mangetsu smiled at her. “If I’m not mistaken, you have until mid-October”.  
  
 _I decided that I want to know more about this Akatsuki._ “I’ll think about it...” said Konan merely.  
  
“Anyway, there are also the individual introductions” Kin suddenly stated, looking up from the phone she had been texting on since the beginning of the conversation. “If you’re interested” she then added quickly.  
  
“The individual introductions...?”  
  
“Right!” exclaimed Tayuya.  
  
“There’s nothing more boring”, Zaku quickly clarified. Tayuya huffed.  
  
“Just because you don’t care doesn’t mean others can’t care, you know?”  
  
“I agree with Zaku”, Sakon remarked, “however, I was _forced_ to tour every single club, so I’m not objective...”  
  
“You didn’t seem to mind so much!” blurted Kin, crossing her arms.  
  
Sakon reddened but Dosu kept him from responding in kind. “Do we have to stand here? Are we going to Kiri?”  
  
“Yes!” Tayuya nodded vigorously.  
  
“Fine by me”, Zaku mumbled.  
  
Neither Kin nor Sakon spoke, Mangetsu shrugged. “That’s fine with me too”.  
  
“I’ll stop by and check out the clubs”, Konan said. “If I’m going to be spending every afternoon there, I might as well pick an interesting one...”  
  
“If you want my advice, ignore the sports ones. They’re all hyped up”, Dosu mumbled.  
  
“Because we, on the other hand, are very chill”, laughed Kin.  
  
“I’d rather have Oto-sensei as a referent than Gai, sorry about that”.  
  
“I thought that the referents were Umino and Yuhi” commented Konan.  
  
“Yes, they preside over all the cultural clubs. But Oto-sensei has a, shall we say, specific interest in music...” began Dosu.  
  
“For _boys_ who make music, you mean” muttered Kin sarcastically.  
  
“It’s just gossip, Kin!” blurted Dosu.  
  
“And where do you think it came from?!”  
  
“It’s all complicated” said Konan, turning to Mangetsu. “Referrals and presidents and referrals of referrals...”  
  
He smiled reassuringly at her, though the caiman teeth didn’t help. “It’s not hard. It’s just new”.

*

_New. Yes, definitely everything is new right now...  
  
_ Mangetsu had looked at her, undecided about what to do, when Konan had said she wanted to take a tour of the available clubs to clear her head. He had probably wondered if it wouldn’t be better to go with her, but Konan had anticipated him and smiled at him, calm.  
  
 _He can really be over-protective sometimes. And I haven’t even known him that long.  
  
_ “I think I can handle it, ‘getsu”, she had said, kindly. The boy had nodded but seemed unconvinced.  
  
  
She had stood and watched the little group leave, wondering how best to act.  
  
 _I don’t know anyone that well... and I have no idea where Kimimaro and Kidomaru are. Who else do I have left...? I need to find Hana, but I don’t have her number._ _Where could she be?  
  
_ She crossed her arms, turning around and looking back at the hall, which was slowly emptying.  
  
 _She might have already left. There’s no reason for her to be here, since she’s volunteering at the kennel...  
  
  
_ “Ito? Are you alright?” Karin was peering at her, doubtful. She hadn’t seen her coming, nor heard her approach, so absorbed was she.  
  
“Yes, of course”, Konan replied quickly. Getting stuck with her didn’t particularly appeal to her.  
  
“How do you feel about club? Do you know what to join yet?”  
  
“I... not really”, the girl admitted. She saw Suigetsu and Jugo arrive, along with the dark-haired boy she had also seen in the morning and whose name she didn’t know.  
  
“Oi Konan”, Suigetsu smiled at her. Jugo nodded from his six-foot height. The dark-haired boy stared at her coldly with two equally dark eyes. He made no mention of introducing himself, and she mimicked him. “Enjoyed the introduction?” continued Hozuki, ignoring – or pretending to ignore – the dirty looks Konan and the brunette were exchanging.  
  
“Too many things all at once”, Konan replied. “Now I have to somehow figure out what I want to do every afternoon until the end of the year”, she joked.  
  
Suigetsu laughed. “That’s the toughest choice you’ll face here”.  
  
Konan was beginning to think that the boy’s sharp tongue depended on his older brother’s presence. Suigetsu with his friends was mostly peaceful. Perhaps the same was true of Karin? She cast a sidelong glance at the read head, who was already watching her from behind the lenses of her rectangular glasses.  
  
“What club are you guys in?”  
  
“I’m in the volleyball club with Jugo. ‘getsu and Sasuke instead are in the soccer club”. No, apparently Karin was always like that, with or without her friends.  
  
 _Sasuke... I need his last name now. Although... with those eyes...  
  
_ Konan had noticed those eyes before, in her own class.  
  
“Guys, I have to go now. I’m sorry”, Jugo stated, uncomfortably.  
  
“Oh, that’s right... well, we’ll walk you all the way to the station!” exclaimed Suigetsu.  
  
“Alright, but we have to get moving” replied Jugo. He looked at Konan, a little embarrassed. “I’m sorry, but I was recently hired at a bar quite far away and I don’t want to be late...”  
  
“Don’t worry about it”, Konan said. _I assume he’s talking about 109.  
  
_ “Anyway, if you don’t know what to choose... the sports club are all clustered in the gym now... the cultural ones you can find on the first floor. Normally, that’s the setup on the first day”, the boy explained.  
  
“I get it”. Konan smiled at him, relieved. “You’re a life-saver”.  
  
Jugo smiled back at her, kind but awkward. “I wish I would have known that, too, on my first day”.  
  
“We’re off, then”, Karin said abruptly. “See you”.  
  
“See you tomorrow”, greeted Konan. “And thank you”.  
  
“No problem!” replied Suigetsu, raising an arm in the air whilst walking away.  
  
  
 _So... gym and first floor classrooms. At least now I have a direction._

*

“Zetsu... you’re busting my balls” growled Deidara. Zetsu, not impressed at all, chuckled.  
  
“I could say the same about you”, the green-haired boy replied softly, continuing to drum his fingers on the desk where he had been lying.  
  
Pain, who was smoking even though they were in the basement, brushed the base of his nose, feeling the cold metal under his fingers. _God, give me the strength to finish this day without hurting anyone.  
  
_ “Shouldn’t we decide what to do?” asked Zetsu again. “Or is our goal to _not_ be taken seriously?”  
  
Deidara made a guttural sound.  
  
“Hidan and Sasori are missing. When they arrive, we’ll talk”, Pain said.  
  
“If we were late, they would start without a problem”, Kakuzu muttered from his corner at the back of the room.  
  
Pain ignored him, taking another puff of smoke.  
  
 _Where the fuck are they?_ Sasori had supposedly stayed to talk to a teacher; Hidan, however, was MIA, probably in the bathroom – but really, there was no telling with him.  
  
“You’re quiet, Kisame” observed Zetsu.  
  
Kisame was flipping through his literature book, looking absent-minded. “I don’t have much to say”.  
  
“How strange”. Zetsu was trying to prod him, but he wasn’t getting the effect he wanted. Kisame continued undaunted to ignore his surroundings.  
  
 _Maybe he’s rethinking the discussion with his mother._ Pain looked at his friend, thoughtful. Of course he met Zetsu’s gaze, who gave him a questioning look.  
  
  
It was easy to think that Zetsu didn’t give a damn about anything or anyone, but that impression rarely matched reality. Kisame, however, was in no mood to talk, and Pain had no intention of forcing him to do so. He would do that voluntarily when he felt like it. Before he could divert Otsutsuki’s attention, however, Itachi intervened.  
  
  
“They didn’t mention us in the list of clubs earlier”, the Uchiha pointed out. That got Zetsu’s attention, thankfully. Itachi remained inscrutable, even to Pain, but they seemed to have had the same idea, namely to make sure Kisame was left alone.  
  
“I noticed”, Otsutsuki commented, going back to staring at the moisture-stained ceiling. “And they can’t have forgotten, considering that Ino is your sister... _Dei-dei_ ”.  
  
“They might have told her to leave us off the list”, Kakuzu commented.  
  
Deidara snorted. “She’s my sister! She would have told me, un!”  
  
“Not necessarily” remarked Itachi. Deidara squared him, annoyed.  
  
“Just because _you_ have a shitty relationship with your brother doesn’t mean it’s like that for everyone, un!”  
  
 _No one touches raw nerves like Deidara_. Naming Sasuke to get a reaction from Itachi was so _typical_ of him, Pain thought. Even Kisame seemed to have re-emerged from his somber silence to monitor the situation.  
  
  
The basement door swung open with a resounding _bang_ , spinning on its hinges and slamming into the wall.  
  
“Hola!” Hidan hopped inside.  
  
“Animal”, Kakuzu muttered, “do you not even know how to open doors?”  
  
“I can open a lot more, ‘ _kuzu_ ”, the albino replied to him, winking. Behind his back, Sasori feigned vomiting – or maybe the gag was real, Pain wasn’t sure.  
  
“Took you foreveeeeer” whined Deidara, pullinh his legs down from the chair in front of him. Sasori walked over to sit down, unceremoniously placing his backpack on top of Zetsu.  
  
“Baki just wouldn’t let go of me anymore”, he explained. “Apparently, I have _potential_ ”.  
  
Zetsu laughed. “Oh, yeah?”  
  
“I had it last year, too”, the red head pointed out.  
  
No one responded to that.  
  
  
Pain extinguished his cigarette and tossed it into the bin.  
  
“Now that we’re all here, I say we can start”.  
  
Zetsu sat up so he could watch, clutching Sasori’s backpack against his chest.  
  
“At last”, Kakuzu exhaled.

*

Konan entered the gym just in time to see professor Gai, in the middle of what looked like a poorly set up ring, fling one of his (likely) students away with a kick.  
  
“WHAT A WONDEROUS KICK SENSEI” cried a boy who looked like a carbon copy of Gai.  
  
“THANK YOU LEE! IT’S THE POWER OF YOUTH!”  
  
  
 _I still have time to get out.  
  
_ Konan made to turn around but couldn’t sneak out as she had hoped.  
  
“Hey! You with the blue hair!”  
  
 _Oh God, is she calling me?  
  
_ She heard someone running in her direction. She only turned her head, her hand still on the doorknob. She was faced with a girl slightly shorter than her, with dark brown hair pulled back in two buns and hazel eyes. From the tracksuit she was wearing, she must have belonged to one of the sports clubs. Konan just hoped she wasn’t with the lunatic in the green suit.  
  
“Are you new?”, the girl asked her.  
  
“Yes”.  
  
“Great! My name is Tenten, I’m from the athletic club!”  
  
“Nice to meet you”, Konan replied.  
  
“Do you know what club to join yet?” urged her Tenten with a hopeful smile.  
  
“I’m looking around”. She didn’t want to say _no, I don’t have a clue what to do but in doubt I’m looking for a club that isn’t a club.  
  
_ “Plenty of choice, huh?” continued to smile at her, a little less intensely than before but still kind.  
  
 _She probably reached out hoping to get me to join her club, and now that she’s approached me to no avail she’s forced to pretend that she cares about what I have to say.  
  
_ “Yes, it’s very wide”. Konan sketched a grimace. “A little too much, perhaps”.  
  
“I know that much! And once you’ve chosen, there’s no going back!” Tenten was joking but that statement put even more anxiety on Konan.  
  
“How many of you are there?” Starting to ask questions seemed the most sensible approach. She hoped to get answers that made sense, at least there.  
  
“It’s me, Rock Lee – the guy over there in the green jumpsuit who’s sparring with Gai-sensei...” Tenten then pointed to the bench behind the _two_ green-clad madmen, where a dark-haired boy who had the words _do not approach_ printed on his forehead sat composed. “... Neji Hyuga...” she searched the gym with her gaze for a few seconds, then shrugged and turned back to Konan. “It’s just the three of us here now”, she explained. “We’re five total members!”  
  
 _I wonder if anyone from Mangetsu’s group was a member. I forgot to ask.  
  
  
_ “Are you trying to steal freshmen from me, Tenten?” Speaking – or rather, _calling_ – had been pink-haired girl who had been talking to Ino – _Sakura Haruno,_ Konan recalled. She and four other boys were bustling around their “booth” (there was no other way to call it). Of all of them, Konan recognized only Karui, her back turned and arguing with a black guy who didn’t seem to be indulging her, judging by his relaxed demeanor.  
  
Tenten spun and raised an arm, smiling. “Sorry I’m faster than you!” she jeered aloud.  
  
 _Freshman? Do I look like a freshman?_ “They... they’re from the judo club, right?”  
  
“Right!” answered Tenten. “I’m not going to advertise for them though, sorry! They have enough members already!” she explained, vaguely sorry.  
  
 _Judo doesn’t sound too bad, actually...  
  
  
_ “WUQI TENTEN!”  
  
 _Oh no._ _Please, not him.  
  
_ “Yes, Gai-sensei!” Tenten snapped to attention. The man covered the distance between them in four strides and patted the girl’s shoulder.  
  
“I SEE YOU’RE TRYING TO RECRUIT NEW MEMBERS”, the man commented, looking at Konan ecstatically.  
  
The blue-haired girl was sure to have a terrified look on her face. _Bowlhead doesn’t have a normal tone of voice?  
  
_ “WHAT’S YOUR NAME?”  
  
“Gai-sensei, you’re shouting” remarked Neji, who had put his own thoughts aside to follow the teacher.  
  
“Oh”. Gai lowered his voce. “What’s your name?”  
  
“Konan”, the girl answered.  
  
“And you don’t know which club to pick?”  
  
 _This seems like a trick question but it’s something I’ve already told Tenten and I can’t take it back now.  
  
_ “Right...”  
  
Was she disrespecting the man in some way? Neji was scowling at her coldly.  
  
“GET READY FOR THE TOUR, THEN”.  
  
 _... tour?  
  
_ “I really was—”  
  
“Sensei, you should only introduce our club! We’re far outnumbered by the others!” protested Tenten.  
  
“THAT WOULDN’T BE FAIR PLAY!” proclaimed the man.  
  
“GAI-SENSEI IS RIGHT!” Rock Lee had joined them as well. There was no longer a real chance to escape.  
  
 _Help._

*

“I still don’t think it’s a good idea, un”.  
  
“ _Deidara_ , this is the eleventh time you’ve said that...”  
  
“I’m repeating it because obviously the message _isn’t_ getting through, un!”  
  
  
The discussion had gotten off to a good start, an hour earlier. Participating was fine with everyone, they’d reconfirmed – everyone except Deidara, whose stubbornness prevented him from changing his mind about anything without mulling it over for at least four or five working days. So, his opposition aside, everything had gone more or less smoothly.  
  
  
“You could propose an alternative instead of just criticizing”, Pain stated.  
  
Of course, they had got stuck right away once they reached what they actually needed to decide.  
  
  
“It’s not like I created the Akatsuki”, hissed the blond. “What did _you_ have in mind when you created this club?”  
  
 _I only wanted friends._ Pain would have rather jumped off a cliff than answer that question. _And now I may have them, but I also have this huge burden of having to keep you in check. All of you. Like Jiraiya asked me to.  
  
_ “It’s been five years”, Pain replied, evading the question. “A few things have changed”.  
  
There was a moment of silence. They all knew what Pain was referring to.  
  
  
“Oh man, it’s not like we have to rehash at every single meeting how much our situation fucking sucks, huh”, snapped Hidan harshly, seated next to Kakuzu. “I think we’re all pretty aware, Nakasaki”.  
  
“I personally didn’t feel like doing shit”, Sasori quipped, changing the subject completely. “That’s why the idea of creating a club that had _no purpose_ was good enough for me”.  
  
“Yeah, but...” began Kisame. “What did you say to Gai, Umino and Yuhi to get yourselves registered as a club?”  
  
All the boys’ eyes focused on Pain and Sasori; the former was standing right under the one and only dirty window, half-open so as to let out the hovering smoke. Sasori was still sitting with Deidara and Zetsu.  
  
“We registered as a painting club”.  
  
There was another moment of stillness, then Hidan burst out laughing loudly.  
  
  
“Why am I only finding out about this now?! Oh fuck!” he howled. “And _they went along with it_?!”  
  
Kakuzu smacked him on the head, to no great avail.  
  
“Well, big sorry if I can paint”. Sasori shrugged, put off by the confusion the albino managed to create simply by his presence.  
  
“Wasn’t there already an art club?” asked Itachi, doubtful.  
  
“It was founded later”, Pain explained.  
  
“Ah”.  
  
“So we’ll also have to change the purpose of the club if we want to participate in this tournament, which we don’t know _anything about yet_ ”, Zetsu said. “Or were you thinking of a painting contest?” The blatantly sarcastic tone stung Pain.  
  
“If you have ideas, I’m all ears, Otsutsuki”.  
  
Zetsu rolled his eyes. “Is it really not obvious?”  
  
“How is it that we’re friends, Zetsu?” wondered Kakuzu. “Get to the point”.  
  
Zetsu, sitting as he was on the bench with Sasori’s backpack in his arms, extended his legs out to stretch them out.  
  
“I suggest...” he looked at the others, with a twinkle in his frankly disturbing yellow eyes. “... mixed martial arts. MMA”.

  
  
  
*

  
  
  


“... AND THEY’RE SABAKU KANKURO, SABAKU TEMARI, INUZUKA KIBA, SARUTOBI KONOHAMARU AND HANUTEKO AJISAI. THEY’RE THE SOCCER CLUB”.  
  
Gai had reached the end of the tour, mercifully, but Konan couldn’t remember half a name. Only a few faces, in passing, and just because they had some peculiar trait – she had connected Haruno’s pink hair to judo, Neji’s icy eyes to athletics, Gaara’s fiery red hair to volleyball, and of course Yamanaka to dance.  
  
“Professor Gai, you’re yelling”, one of the two girls, with her purple hair up and light green eyes, pointed out to him.  
  
“Oh”. Gai’s enthusiasm didn’t dampen but his volume did. “Where’s Sasuke?”  
  
“Uchiha isn’t here today”, Kankuro replied, looking at Konan.  
  
 _Sasuke Uchiha... he didn’t seem particularly inclined to be.  
  
_ “We can manage without him” mumbled the other girl, a buxom blonde sitting at the booth with her legs crossed and looking arrogant.  
  
“I see. This is Konan”, Gai introduced her.  
  
 _He probably thinks I’m dumb or something.  
  
_ “Pleasure”, she murmured. _How do I get rid of this guy?_ “Professor”, she then added, “I should go. I want to see what cultural clubs are available”, she explained.  
  
The man brightened and gave her a big smile, raising his thumb. “That’s a great idea! I can tell you have a seething spirit of youth!”  
  
The blonde behind the booth made a skeptical sound, and Konan couldn’t really be offended by that because she would have reacted the same way if she could.  
  
“Okay...”

  
She had practically run out of the gym, not crossing anyone’s eyes as she left. She’d rather pass for awkward than stand there for an extra-minute and endure Gai’s screeches and the stares of others. She knew she would attract some attention as a newcomer, but knowing it was one thing. Experiencing it was another.  
  
 _It’s only because I'm alone today,_ she thought. _If any of the others were here...._ She froze in the corridor, mid-stride. _... if there were any of the others, it would be the same thing. I don’t know enough about them either._ She resumed walking, slowly. _I have to make it on my own. Somehow.  
  
_ She passed several classrooms like this, walking slowly without trying to get in. She really didn’t feel like wandering around and getting the hang of it. The only thing she was still curious about was...  
  
 _The Akatsuki._ She pulled the flyer with the clubs out of her pocket and went back to looking at the lettering, printed in bright red. She wasn’t sure why she was so interested in it. She could have just picked a club randomly.  
  
 _It doesn’t even say whether it’s sports or cultural.  
  
_ She had come to a crossroads of sorts: the stairs leading upstairs, and the stairs leading down to what looked like a basement. There were no clubs there, so she stopped to turn around.

  
“ARE YOU KIDDING?” barked a familiar voice coming right from the basement.  
  
 _...?_ _Is this the voice of the albino dude?_ Konan walked down the stairs, hesitant.  
  
“HIDAN, I SWEAR IF YOU DON’T LOWER YOUR BLOODY VOICE—”  
  
She was right in front of the basement door. The light flooding the corridor above her couldn’t reach that far, so the space around her was mostly dark. Judging by the extent of the cobwebs and the dust, it was probably for the best that she couldn’t see well.  
  
 _That’s shit._ She looked at the door. _What the fuck am I doing here?_ She’d followed Hidan’s voice, sure, but how in the world was she supposed to say: “Hey there, I was just looking for you because I know for sure you’re the people I’m looking for”? _Me and my urges...  
  
_ “THERE’S NOTHING WRONG WITH MY VOICE, IF ANYTHING IT’S YOUR FACE THAT’S THE ISSUE—”  
  
She turned to leave before anyone was aware of her presence but the door swung open before she could set foot on the steps.  
  
“I had heard well” declared Zetsu’s voice, mellifluous. “Hello flower. Are you lost?”  
  
Konan was done with the whole situation. “No”, she replied curtly, turning around with a snap. “I’m actually looking for...” she froze and considered the person in front of her. _Should I tell him? Really? To him?_ “I’m looking for a club but everyone looks the other way when I ask where it is”, she stated sincerely. If Zetsu was the kind of person he seemed, being honest might be the best thing to do.  
  
The boy tilted his head. Behind him, in the room, silence had fallen. _I don’t know how many there are but they’re listening.  
  
_ “Oh, yeah?” the boy replied. “That’s bad”.  
  
 _He doesn’t give me any rope.  
  
_ “You can help me, maybe” murmured Konan, crossing her arms.  
  
“Maybe” repeated Zetsu. “Too bad I’m busy now”.  
  
“Who are you talking to, Otsutsuki? I don’t want to be here all day, un!” blurted someone from behind.  
  
“It’s been a pleasure, flower”. Zetsu made to go back in.  
  
 _No, wait a minute.  
  
_ “Do you know where the Akatsuki is?”  
  
 _Of course he does. He’s part of it.  
  
_ “Oi Zetsu, who the fuck are you talking to?” Hidan’s head popped out from over Zetsu’s shoulder. “Aaaah, but you’re the new chick!”  
  
“That’s me”, Konan replied.  
  
“She’s looking for the Akatsuki”, Zetsu told him. Hidan arched his eyebrows, continuing to observe the girl.  
  
“Well, let her in then. What a rude piece of shit you are, Otsutsuki”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writing about Akatsuki is the most fun thing in this world.  
> Anyway, on to the serious stuff. This chapter should have continued, but I preferred to cut it in half so you don't have to wait months and months for a (poor) update.  
> Gai in my head screams, even when he talks. I decided to represent him this way, it's not meant in an offensive sense but I think he's the kind of person so overflowing with positive energy that he can't help but let it out that way too.  
> Ajisai is the Animal World of Pain, I recently discovered it and decided to use her.  
> What else? Well, Oto-sensei is Orochimaru and the rumors about him... well, why tell you when you can read about it.  
> Let me know what you think, what you feel, and especially if you'd like me to change points of view more often - I'm thinking about it, and it might actually get more interesting.You know I'm a sucker for underrepresented characters in Naruto, so if you ask me for Sakura/Ino's point of view/overrepresented character I'll even say yes, but if you ask me for Kidomaro's point of view (or Sakon. Or Kin. Or Samui) I'll love you instantly. Bonus points if I don't know the character either and have to look it up.

**Author's Note:**

> This will be a long AU (I don’t know how long yet), with both crack and non crack pairing and with quite delicate themes. It’s been a long time since I’ve tried something other than oneshots, but this story has already been outlined enough... so why not? I realize I’ve put an obscene amount of meat on the fire, but everything will come in due time. The intention is to start very, very slowly, I think you can see it from the way it’s written. The first chapters will be dedicated to the introduction of the characters – 90% known, 5% known but not deep enough, 5% unknown. If you have headcanons that you want to share, I’m willing to integrate them eventually.  
> Technical details:  
> \+ conversations are between “...”, while thoughts are in italics;  
> \+ the 109 is a real existing mall (I’m trying to stick to the geography of today’s Japan, so if you look for places you’ll find them!);  
> \+ the surnames are 50% canon, 50% invented. As for parents in general, I tried to stick to the canon when possible, otherwise I invented them shamelessly;  
> \+ headcanon #1: Mangetsu and Suigetsu are cousins of Kisame.
> 
> Let me know what you think please, I started to translate this fic from Italian so I hope it's a worthy read.


End file.
